Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals won their second IPL encounter successively today to move to top of the IPL leaderboard. Delhi looked off beat as they registered their second consecutive loss for the tournament. Delhi didn’t have a great start with Virender Sehwag and Finch finding Tait’s pace too hot. Sehwag had earlier declared, “I am used to facing all these fast bowlers.” But, his bat didn’t look to produce a good bit today. He slammed Tait for a boundary the first ball through the point region. But, Tait hit Sehwag back the next delivery itself with pace. However, Tait was too costliest. He ended up with an economy of 10 in his four overs quota.
Warner and Venugopal built the innings for the Daredevils as they dared to get past the 150 mark. They actually saved Delhi from a fiasco when Delhi were in deep trouble losing 4 wickets for 36 runs. Warner played a crucial 54 off 44 balls inning. The underestimated Venugopal played the anchor role with his 60 runs of just 40 balls. All other Delhities in the batting lineup looked miserable with scores below 5 mostly.
Warne did a wonderful job by dismissing the destructive NamanOjha and U. Chand in his spell of 4 overs. He also just gave away 17 runs in his quota. Ojha could have made the target for Rajasthan a stiff one, had he stayed. Thanks! To Warney it didn’t happen.
Rajasthan captivated the chase on the two veteran mavericks – Dravid and Botha. Dravid played the sheath anchor’s role announcing his presence with a couple of boundaries off Dinda. He played Irfan and Van der Merwe as well with ease. He played elegantly striking the bad deliveries for boundaries. Rajasthan had gained full control in the powerplay as their scorecard read 57 runs for losing just a wicket.
Things remained good for them as Botha continued the chase playing the senior’s role. The youngsters played around him. After Dravid was dismissed by van der Merwe, Menaria stepped in at the crease. He played a little cameo of 22 runs. Similar job was also done by Rahane as he contributed 18 runs. After such a good start the Kiwi belligerent finisher Ross Taylor ignited the victory with a couple of fireworks. RR managed to scrape the win in the 19th over as they won with 9 balls to spare.
Delhi bowlers looked faltering mostly. Morkel did a commendable job giving away nothing and also dismissing Rahane in his bowling spell. All other Delhi bowlers were mostly taken for a smack.
Well played Rajasthan. And, a well-deserved victory for them in the end!
Tags: Cricket, DD, Delhi Daredevils, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2011, IPL 4, Rajasthan Royals, RR, Virender Sehwag
