Desert Strom blind Delhi Daredevils
May 31st, 2008Editorial
Rajasthan Royals is a team which was virtually written off by all Cricket Guru’s in the initial stages of the Indian Premier League (IPL) just after the auction . Even Lalit Modi was not too happy with the amounts spend for acquiring Crickets in the auction as his expectations were high given the financial clout of Lalchan Murdock - an heir of the billion dollar star TV / Fox Tv empire and son of Media Moghul Rupert Murdoch. Rajastnan Royals remained a passive observer of the ignorant hype of bollywood kings and badshah’s and million dollar splash from the Ambanis and the Mallaya’s.
Again the early defeat in the hands of Delhi Daredevils in the third match attracted the Pundits once again to squarely write off this team who predicted them a position at the bottom end of the final league table. But the cool and calculating Shane Warne has some other story to script with a much different ending than expected even by the top critics in the Indian Cricket World.
Nearly every player in the team contributed in some way towards the overall performance and even though players like Shane Watson who was acquired at nominal prices as compared to big guns in other teams were extra ordinary in performance and ended up as the top performer in the entire league as per all and every method of ratings and calculations formulated by any Cricket Analyst.
So, at the end of the the league tournament when Rajasthan Royals ended at the top coveted position with 11 wins out of 14 matches the biggest question doing the rounds was why Shane Warne was never considered for Captaining the Australian side ever!
Not only he managed to lead the team to victory but also he managed to earn praise for player management,team-work, counseling and as a strategist who approaches every game differently keeping the opponent in mind.
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Though the Rajasthan Royals lost their pre-semifinal match against the Mohali Team - Kings XI Punjab - it had virtually no effect on the team. Maybe for the counseling of their captain or by his exceptional morale boosting strategy - Rajasthan Royals really went out in the field for the semis in royal style - reminiscent of the past royalty of the said state.
The semifinal was played on Wankhade - a field favorable to spinners and it was obvious that the team batting second will hold some advantage. Delhi was always weak in bowling but after a few overs one could clearly predict that the even the best bowlers would not have been enough to contain the batting power of this formidable side. Smith, Swapnil, Watson, Pathan all lived up to a proper display of batting extravaganza and manged to sum up a moderate yet decent total of 192 in 20 overs.
Earlier Delhi has been let down by a weak middle order more than once and the semi-final was no different, rather worse. A terrible batting performance by the opening order as also the others could not save the team and the excitement of a clash was all lost when the end became predictable. Tanvir and Watson were impressive first up, giving nothing away to the opening batsmen. Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhawan all fell trying to keep the run rate under control plus a few mis-fieldings’. The middle order failed to perform yet again as Delhi fell short by a whopping 105 runs.
In the end we saw Shane Warne walking away with a beaming smile and why not? - not only he has managed to take the underdogs to the final with brilliant captain-ship skills but also proved all the critics wrong with the most entertaining performance in 20Twenty Cricket ever seen.
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Tags: 20Twenty cricket, Daredevils, Delhi, indian premier league, IPL, Rajasthan Royals, Shane Warne, Shane watsonPosted in Cricket News, IPL - Rajasthan Royals, IPL News |