Rajasthan Ready For Delhi Battle

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Ist Semi-Final at the Wankhede Stadium Mumbai.

Rajasthan Royals are set to play the Delhi Daredevils in the first of two cracking IPL Semi-finals. Ironically Delhi have Rajasthan to thank for their admittance into this game as Shane Warnes team beat Mumbai in the final game to knock them out of the competition, putting Delhi through.

Both Sides possess quality in the bowling department. Rajasthan have the on form and leading wicket taker Sohail Tanvir as well as Munaf Patel, Shane Watson and of course Shane Warne, whilst Delhi have Mohammad Asif, Farveez Maharoof, Amit Mishra and legendary Glenn McGrath who’s economy rate in the IPL has been terrific so far.

Both sides also have some explosive batting in Graeme Smith, Virender Sehwag and Shane Watson. Both sides beat each other in the league games with Delhi being slightly the better of the two. This is a match not to be missed.

Watch out for …

 

 

Tanvir against Delhi’s openers, Sehwag and Gambhir.  

 

Glenn McGrath. Rajasthan were able to score only 33 runs off his eight overs in the league games.  

 

Yusuf Pathan and Shane Watson, who form the mainstay of Rajasthan’s power-hitting arsenal.

 

Aussie Batting v Indian Bowling

So far the IPL has proved successful. Looking over the figures for batting and bowling it seems the Aussies have been entertaining in terms of batting, whilst the Indians including the home grown, less know players have been the better bowlers. Not one player however, has managed to overtake Brendon McCullum’s 158 not out, scored in the opening game. In fact runs have come at a premium in May, with Jayasuriya’s century against Chennai the only notable innings as sides struggle to hit 200+ totals

IPL BATTING

The Australians are proving to be a force in the IPL. Five Australians are in the top ten for percentage of runs scored from boundaries and sixes including Adam Gilchrist who has scored nearly 78% of his runs in this manner.

In the batting averages, Shaun Marsh averages nearly 99 (IPL highest), Simon Katich 96, Mike Hussey 84, Andrew Symonds nearly 81 whilst Matthew Hayden is on 71. Adam Gilchrist is the highest total scorer of the Aussies on 322 but 103 less than leading IPL run scorer Gautam Gambhir. However, 3 Australians are in the top five of the highest score totals – Symonds (117*), M. Hussey (116*) and Gilchrist (109*) all unbeaten.

 

IPL BOWLING

In the bowling meanwhile, the Indians have been generally the better bowlers with Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan all taking 13 wickets apiece (the highest in the IPL). Amit Mishra of the Delhi Daredevils has the most notable average at 8.14 from 10 overs including 7 wickets. Whilst Glenn McGraths economy rate of 6.17 is unbelievable from his 40 overs. This shows the importance of line and length over pace!

Rajasthan’s Sohail Tanvir’s 6 for 14 runs against Chennai is the best bowling performance whilst RP Singhs 59 runs from 4 overs against Kolkata is the worst for runs conceded.

 

Sehwag Fireworks Seal Delhi Win

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A magnificent 94 not out from Virender Sehwag sealed a comfortable victory for Delhi Daredevils over the Deccan Chargers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Sehwag hit his 94 from just 41 balls including 10 boundaries and 6 maximums as Delhi reached the winning target set by Hyderabad for the loss of just one wicket.

Hyderabad opened the batting with Rohit Sharma scoring an heroic 66 from just 36 balls but good bowling from Glenn McGrath, Mohammad Asif, Farheez Maharoof and Rajat Bhatia restricted Hyderabad to just 142-8. Shahid Afridi and Andrew Symonds were kept unusually quiet.

In reply the Daredevils always looked comfortable despite losing the early wicket of Gautam Gambhir. Sehwag and Shikhar Dhawan finished unbeaten to guide Delhi to the 9 wicket win. The second win of the tournament for the Daredevils whilst Hyderabad are yet to get off the mark.

Final result from Hyderabad: Delhi Daredevils beat the Hyderabad Chargers by 9 wickets.

Opening Games See Kolkata Top

Kolkata Knight Riders go top of the Indian Premier League after winning both their opening games of the tournament. Kolkata beat Bangalore by 140 runs in the opening game on Friday before beating Mumbai by five wickets on Sunday.

It’s been a thrilling start to the tournament which has seen not only the highest Twenty20 score ever (158 by Brendon McCullum) but the fastest (Mike Hussey 116 from 54 balls). Just the sort of ball cracking entertainment to woo the Indian crowds and get the tournament off to the flying start it needed.

But its not just the batting which has been the highlight. We have seen superb performances from veterans such as Glenn McGrath and Shaun Pollock (bat & ball). I have also been impressed by the fielding, after a number of good catches and plenty of run outs during the opening fixtures.

How they stand:

		P	W	L	NR	T	P	NRR
Kolkata Knight Riders		2	2	0	0	0	4	+3.764
Delhi Daredevils		1	1	0	0	0	2	+2.253
Chennai Super Kings		1	1	0	0	0	2	+1.650
Bangalore Royals		2	1	1	0	0	2	-3.423
Mumbai		1	0	1	0	0	0	-0.191
Hyderabad		1	0	1	0	0	0	-0.395
Mohali		1	0	1	0	0	0	-1.650
Rajasthan		1	0	1	0	0	0	-2.253

 

Daredevils beat Rajasthan

 

      V                     Full Scorecard

 

Delhi Daredevils cruised to a comfortable 9 wicket victory over Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.

It was a fine bowling performance by Glenn McGrath as he rolled back the years with conservative figures of 1-21 off his four overs as Delhi kept the Royals to just 129-8 off their 20 overs. Jadeja top scoring with just 29.

The Daredevils made light work of the target with half centuries from Gautam Gambhir and Dhawan giving the Daredevils victory with nearly five overs to spare.

Final result: Delhi Daredevils won by 9 wickets.