Ken Borland

The Delhi Daredevils, led by their resident wrecking ball Virender Sehwag, cemented their position at the top of the Indian Premier League log as they hammered the Rajasthan Royals by six wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Tuesday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120501/Wreckingball_Sehwag_keeps_DD_on_top

Sehwag put on a phenomenal show as he plundered 73 off 38 balls, cruising to their target of 142 with 28 balls to spare, after the Royals had made a meal of the second half of their innings to finish with a mediocre 141 for six.

Sehwag’s great innings, highlighting not only his power but also his uncanny ability to find the gaps, handed Rajasthan their fourth successive defeat, leaving them languishing in sixth place, while the Daredevils now lead the Kolkata Knight Riders by three points at the top of the standings.

The Delhi captain married brute force with tremendous skill as he dominated a fruitful second-wicket partnership of 96 in 9.5 overs with Kevin Pietersen, who did not need to assert himself too much as he strolled to 36 off 34 balls.

Shane Watson, who was the best of the Rajasthan bowlers with one for 29 in his four overs, removed Pietersen when he had him caught at long-off and even the cheap dismissal of Ross Taylor (6), slicing a pull at a Brad Hogg chinaman, left no doubt as to who the winners would be.

It was Hogg who eventually removed Sehwag, slicing a cut to backward point, ending a top-class innings in a rather soft fashion.

Naman Ojha then hit spinner Ashok Menaria’s first two balls for a four and a six to complete a thorough victory for the IPL pace-setters.

It is said that opening partnerships lay the foundation for the innings, but the Rajasthan Royals totally wasted theirs as they stagnated to 141 for six after winning the toss and electing to bat.

Left-arm spinner Pawan Negi was the hero for the Daredevils with four for 18 in his four overs, but Morne Morkel was equally as brilliant, once again showing his class with one for 23 in four overs.

Opening batsman and captain Rahul Dravid was the top scorer for Rajasthan with a determined 57 off 43 balls, but he will be very disappointed with how the innings faded away after he and Ajinkya Rahane had added 71 for the first wicket in 8.4 overs.

Rahane was once again in sublime form as he powered to 42 off 32 balls, with seven thunderous fours, but the competition’s leading run-scorer was not quite the same batsman after Morkel hit him on the head with a ferocious, quick bouncer in the sixth over.

Rahane was the first victim of the 19-year-old Negi as his reverse-sweep was rather lamely placed straight into the hands of Sehwag at backward point.

Watson, who was in the West Indies with the Australian team just 72 hours previously, heaved Delhi’s other left-arm spinner, Shahbaz Nadeem for six, but was given a rude awakening by Negi, who skidded a delivery through to bowl the all-rounder for eight.

Owais Shah (1) tried to have a dip at impressive fast bowler Umesh Yadav (4-0-28-1) and could only glove a catch to wicketkeeper Ojha, and Negi then cut deep into the Rajasthan lower-order when he removed Brad Hodge (1) and Menaria (2) in his final over.

Dravid completed a well-put-together half-century, off 35 balls, by driving Morkel crisply through extra cover for his seventh four in the 17th over, but it was little consolation as the Royals still finished with a poor total on a good batting pitch.

Dravid departed in Morkel’s next over when he tried to hit the tall fast bowler over the leg-side, but could only edge the ball into his leg, from where it hit the stumps.

The Rajasthan Royals attack called the tune as they dismissed the Kolkata Knight Riders for 142 to win their Indian Premier League match by 22 runs at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday.

– http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120408/Rajasthan_Royals_bowlers_do_the_job

The Knight Riders were chasing 165 for victory, but a top-class opening burst by seamer Amit Singh and left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan saw them lose three wickets off three balls.

At eight for three in the third over, Kolkata were looking like fish out of water and, despite a classy, defiant half-century from Manoj Tiwary and a late onslaught from Brett Lee, the victory was a most comfortable one for the Royals.

Jacques Kallis (5) was the first to fall, driving a slower ball from Amit straight to deep mid-off. The 30-year-old followed up the wicket of South Africa’s greatest batsman by having Indian star Gautam Gambhir caught behind for a duck off the next delivery.

Brendon McCullum (2) then seemed oblivious to the crisis as he walked across his stumps to the first ball of the next over and was trapped lbw by Chavan.

The Rajasthan team needed to use just five bowlers as the Knight Riders continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.

Yusuf Pathan briefly threatened as he scored 15, but the big-hitting Gujarati is frustratingly inconsistent and he skied Siddharth Trivedi to midwicket to leave Kolkata on 66 for five in the 11th over.

Lee is a dangerous striker of the ball and he hammered a pair of fours and sixes in his 25 off 11 balls before being bowled by a good slower ball from Kevon Cooper.

Tiwary finished with 59 off 49 balls, with seven fours, but it was not enough to prevent the Knight Riders from being bowled out in the final over.

Chavan took 2-23 and Amit 2-30 to set the early tone, while Trivedi claimed 2-25 to undermine the middle-order.

Cooper then grabbed 3-28 to earn himself the Purple Cap for the leading wicket-taker, while South African Johan Botha eventually bowled Tiwary to end the innings and finish with 1-34.

Brad Hodge and Ashok Menaria were the inspiration earlier with the bat as the Rajasthan Royals posted 164 for five.

Rajasthan had been sent in to bat and were hampered by both their openers being run out as they reached 62 for three after nine overs, before Menaria scored 40 off 30 balls and Hodge 44 off 29 deliveries as they shared a fourth-wicket stand of 64 in 7.3 overs.

Ajinkya Rahane, the hero of Rajasthan’s comprehensive opening win over the Punjab Kings XI, surrendered his wicket in the second over when he was run out by Gambhir for a duck, before Rahul Dravid and Shreevats Goswami added 43 for the second wicket in five overs.

Their stand was ended, however, by Dravid’s run out, by Iqbal Abdulla, for 26 and Rajat Bhatia, their most economical bowler, then struck a major blow for the Knight Riders as he bowled Goswami for 23.

Menaria and Hodge owned the middle overs, however, giving the Royals a competitive total in the process.

Hodge was content to set off at his own pace, scoring at a run-a-ball for his first 13 deliveries, before getting stuck into off-spinner Pathan in the 14th over.

The Australian cooked up two sixes and a four in the over of pies and the run-rate continued to rise as he smashed Kallis for successive boundaries in the next over.

Hodge eventually fell trying to scoop compatriot Lee and being caught behind, but Englishman Owais Shah immediately got down to business, facing two balls before hitting two fours and a six off his next four deliveries.

Lee bowled Menaria in an eventful penultimate over that also included a six and a four by Shah, as well as a no-ball that just cost two more runs off the free hit by the Western Cape Cobras batsman.

The Kolkata bowlers stuck to their game plans well, with Lee taking 2-29 and spinners Sunil Narine, the IPL rookie from the West Indies, (4-0-29-0) and Bhatia (4-0-27-1) systematically stifling the batsmen.