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Royals sails into final

Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI: The Purple Cap on Sohail Tanvir’s head is a beacon for batsmen to recognise and respect the DLF-IPL’s highest wicket-taker. Captain Shane Warne’s gambit to use him as a pinch-hitter did not work. The Pakistani repaid his captain with a fine catch on the fence to send back dangerman Virender Sehwag in the second over.

That signalled the beginning of the end for Delhi Daredevils in the first semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday night. Sehwag and mates crumbled in 16.1 overs for 87 runs, chasing 193 for a place in the final.

Substitute Taruvar Kohli and Mohd. Kaif displayed their reflexes to send back Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik respectively.

Rising to the occasion

Shane Watson (three for 10) rose to the occasion by preying on the batsmen’s anxiety and led the way towards a 105-run victory. Delhi’s batting heavyweights buckled under the weight of runs and Sehwag, Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan were back in the dugout within six overs, all victims of Watson.

Warne stressed on the work ethic in the side. “We played a perfect match today and need to play just one more perfect match,” said the Rajasthan skipper about the final.

Watson picked up his fourth Man-of-the-Match award of the competition, while Munaf Patel chipped in with a three-wicket haul.

The scores: Rajasthan Royals: 192 for nine in 20 overs.

Delhi Daredevils: G. Gambhir c sub (T. Kohli) b Watson 11, V. Sehwag c Tanvir b Watson 3, S. Dhawan c Jadeja b Watson 5, M. Tiwary c Asnodkar b Munaf 0, T. Dilshan c Tanvir b Warne 33, D. Karthik c Kaif b Trivedi 10, F. Mahroof c Yusuf b Warne 6, A. Mishra b Munaf 2, V. Yomahesh c Rawat b Munaf 3, M. Asif (run out) 3, G. McGrath (not out) 4; Extras: (lb-3, w-4) 7; Total: (in 16.1 overs) 87.

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-23, 3-24, 4-28, 5-56, 6-75, 7-76, 8-77, 9-82.

Rajasthan Royals bowling: Tanvir 2-0-16-0, Watson 3-0-10-3, Munaf 4-0-17-3, Trivedi 3-0-20-1, Warne 4-0-21-2, Jadeja 0.1-0-0-0.

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