Pathan power helped Rajasthan Royals

Yusuf Pathan’s blitzkrieg worth 61 off just 30 balls helped Rajasthan Royals beat the Delhi Daredevils by five wickets with nine balls to spare. Graeme Smith carried his bat making 44 off 46 balls, while Pathan turned the tide of the match in his team’s favour after coming in at No.7. When Rajasthan Royals lost two quick wickets in the middle, that of Paul Valthaty and Shane Warne, the match seemed to be evenly poised with the defending champions at 64 for 5. But once Yusuf came into the picture there was no looking back for Warne’s side.

Earlier, a fighting half-century from AB de Villiers and some lusty hitting down the order from Daniel Vettori and Mithun Manhas helped Delhi Daredevils post a modest 143 for seven against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL here on Tuesday. The tournament’s only centurion AB de Villiers (50 off 40) and Daniel Vettori (29) ensured that Delhi put up a decent total, stitching together a crucial 56-run sixth-wicket stand after Rajasthan sent packing their four top-order batsmen with the scoreboard reading 49.

It was a dream start for the Royals as the dynamic Delhi opening duo of Virender Sehwag (16) and Gautam Gambhir (8) failed to make any impact once again. The Daredevils batsmen found going tough against a disciplined Rajasthan bowling attack. Their innings never really kicked off as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Dimitri Mascarenhas (2/28) picked up the opening duo in his eventful second over and innings’ third after Sehwag clobbered him for two boundaries in that over. Gambhir was the first to depart when skipper Shane Warne latched on to a blinder at the first slip in the third ball of Mascarenhas’ second over.

Scorecard
Delhi Daredevils: G Gambhir c Warne b Mascarenhas 8 (1x4), V Sehwag c K Khan b Mascarenhas 16 (2x4, 1x6), AB de Villiers lbw b Warne 50 (5x4, 1x6),  T Dilshan c Asnodkar b Patel 7 (1x4), D Karthik c&b Warne 4, D Vettori b Patel 29 (3x4), M Manhas not out 23 (2x4, 1x6), A Mishra b K Khan 0, P Sangwan not out 1
Extras: (LB3, W1, NB1) 5; Total: (7 wickets; 20 overs) 143;
FoW: 1-20, 2-25, 3-38, 4-49, 5-105, 6-135, 7-142; Bowling: D Mascarenhas 4-0-28-2, K Khan 4-0-34-1, M Patel 4-1-14-2, S Warne 4-0-32-2, R Jadeja 2-0-17-0, Y Pathan 2-0-15-0

Rajasthan Royals: R Quiney lbw b Nehra 4 (1x4), G Smith not out 44 (5x4), S Asnodkar run out (Mishra)  11 (1x4, 1x6), P Valthaty c Vettori b Mishra 1, R Jadeja c Sangwan b Mishra 16 (1x4), S Warne st Karthik b Mishra 0, Y Pathan not out 61 (3x4, 6x6); Extras: (LB4, W5, NB1) 10; Total: (5 wickets; 18.3 overs) 147; FoW: 1-20, 2-31, 3-34, 4-63, 5-64; Bowling: D Nannes 3.3-0-22-0, A Nehra 4-0-23-1, P Sangwan 4-0-28-0, A Mishra 4-0-34-3, T Dilshan 1-0-4-0, D Vettori 2-0-32-0