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.

 

Mumbai v Kolkata Preview

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Venue: Wankede Stadium Mumbai.

This crucial match in the IPL throws up some interesting battles. Firstly it is the new ball pace pair Ishant Sharma and Pakistan talisman Shoaib Ahktar bowling against opening pair Sanath Jayasuriya and legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Jayasuriya recently scored a century against Chennai (the only hundred scored so far in May) and will be looking to add to that here. Ahktar on the other hand bowled fantastically in the win over the Delhi Daredevils on his debut game.

Both sides will be looking for a win to boost there semi final credentials. So this will be a close game. However I can’t help thinking that Mumbai will make it six wins on the bounce because of Kolkata’s weakness with their batting. Only David Hussey and captain Sourav Ganguly seem to have the experience and guise to hold up a fairly strong Mumbai attack. Mumbai struggled at the beginning especially with Tendulkar out but have come back strong as I predicted before the tournament began.

My predicted result: Mumbai Indians to win. 

 

 

Bangalore beat Mumbai

 V    Full scorecard

 

Bangalore Royal Challengers put their opening IPL defeat behind them as they recorded a 5 wicket win against Mumbai at Wankede Stadium.

A late South African onslaught from Jacques Kallis (25) and Mark Boucher (39 n.o) saw Bangalore home after Mumbai batted first reaching 165-6 from their 20 overs.

Robin Uthappa was the star for Mumbai, as he hit 48 from 38 balls before being stumped by Boucher off Balachandra Akhil. Sachin Tendulkar could not feature due to injury but Shaun Pollock blazed a late 28 from just 12 balls to give Mumbai a competitive total.

Despite losing five wickets in the reply, all the Bangalore batsmen chipped in with some runs with captain Rahul Dravid scoring 32 before Kallis and Boucher blazed 55 from 31 balls to help get Bangalore home with two balls to spare. Harbhajan Singh’s 36-2 off his 4 overs not enough to prevent defeat for Mumbai.

Final result: Bangalore Royals won by 5 wickets.

Watch all the wickets below: