versus 
The first Semi final is between Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals.
Both teams have faced each other twice in the league matches and they split the series 1-1.
In the first match Dehli defeated Rajasthan by 9 wickets, but Rajasthan didn’t had Tanvir, Smith, Asnodkar in their line up and Dehli had the services of Vettori then.
In the second match Rajasthan defeated Dehli by three wickets, Rajasthan rested Tanvir in that match and Dehli played without Vettori.
Both matches were low scoring in the first match the target was a mere 130 and in the second match it was 157. On both occassions the side batting second won the match.
Players to watch
Rajasthan’s trump cards will be Tanvir, Pathan, Watson and Smith. Whereas Sehwag, Gambhir McGrath and Mahroof will be Dehli’s trump cards.
The opening duo of Sehwag and Gambhir will face Tanvir for the first time, if Gambhir and Sehwag survive Tanvir’s opening spell and managed to score against him, Rajasthan will definitely be under pressure, so far Tanvir has been difficult to get away in the initial overs, he will be the key for Rajasthan as Delhi depends a lot on Sehwag and Gambhir for their runs, if Tanvir or Watson took early wickets Delhi will be in trouble:
Weak areas:
Rajasthan is struggling with its opening combination since the last few matches and Dehli is struggling with the fifth bowler, its yet to be seen if they play Asif or not, my guess is both Asif and Malik will play in the semis replacing Dilshan and AB de villiers. Asif is good against left handers so it will not be a bad idea, Dilshan had a couple of good games but most of the times he failed. Malik will give more depth to Delhi’s batting.
Delhi Probables: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 V Yomahesh, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Mohammad Asif 11 Glenn McGrath.
Rajasthan Probables:1 Graeme Smith, 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 Yusuf Pathan, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Niraj Patel, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Mahesh Rawat (wk), 8 Shane Warne (capt), 9 Sohail Tanvir, 10 Siddharth Trivedi, 11 Munaf Patel.
Stats:
Rajasthan Royals are not great in the power plays both with the bat or the ball, they haven’t taken much wickets but they have given less runs as a result they take more wickets in the middle and final overs. In the power play overs they have given away runs @ 7.56 and scored runs @ 7.75 while Delhi in power play overs have scored @ 8.72 and given away runs @ 7.99.
In middle overs Rajasthan has scored @ 8.52 and given away runs @ 6.88, Delhi has scored @ 8.68 and given away runs @ 7.81.
In last overs Rajasthan has scored @ 10.29 and given away runs @ 8.84. Delhi in last overs has scored @ 8.95 and given away runs @9.85.
Delhi has gotten better starts because of Sehwag and Gambhir, and even in the middle overs their scoring rate is better because of Dhawan. Rajasthan has performed better in the later overs because of Pathan and in the middle overs they have stifled the opposition because of miserly spells. They have also taken more wickets in the middle and later overs than any other team.
It will all depend on Sehwag and Gambhir how long they stay on the wicket, Rajasthan will depend on Tanvir for early break throughs.
Toss & Ground:
The team winning the toss will probably field first because the seaside situation of the Wankhede stadium means that the swing bowlers get a fair amount of assistance during the first half. The pitch has traditionally been full of runs, but it does help the spinners , also in the previous matches between the two teams the side batting second won, in total 7 matchs were played on this ground and 5 times the side batting second won. Both teams played one match each on this ground and both lost.
Favorites:
Rajasthan are favorites to win the Semis as they are a more balanced team, Delhi’s top three batsmen have been getting most of their runs 62% to be exact, their middle order fails mostly also they have struggled with their bowling in most of the matches, the absence of a quality fifth bowler in the league matches costed them quite a few matches. The inclusion of Asif will strengthen them but then again he has proved to be quite expensive giving away runs @9.42/over.
damm… delhi lost…lol… but then RR have won the tourno anyway
7th over is in progress and Daredevils are 37/4, its almost all over for them, Watson destroyed the Delhi top order in his first two overs, I knew Sehwag &co will try to attack Watson instead of Tanvir and will pay the price.
Its 188/7 at the end of 19 overs, Pathan is on fire, last over coming up, 16 came off McGrath’s last over, Asif V Pathan, two balls and two runs, the third one is a dot ball and a wicket, Rawat goes, Pathan is run out trying to take a second run of a fumble. Good last over by Asif, 5 balls and three runs,last ball one run came of it 192 is the total, its a good total and the match will go down to the wire.
Its the highest score on this ground, will Delhi be able to chase this score, well Dilshan and Karthik will have to score, no time to settle down for any one,Pressure will be all on Delhi.
17th over is being bowled, Mahroof is mixing short ones with slower yorkers he has been bowling really good.its 171/6 now in 17.4 overs they RR has to score atleast 20 runs of the last two overs.Will they get it?
Watson goes thats a big one Mishra beats him in the flight and Karthik removes the bails. A big Blow to RR, now Pathan will have to stay he has been looking a bit streaky but luck always favours the brave.
YoMahesh dropped both watson and Pathan in Mahroof’s over, you cannot drop catches in such a big match.
Yousuf Pathan comes in this is again a crucial moment for RR,
if he fires then the match will slip away from Delhi but if Delhi gets his wicket it will be a big blow to RR as he scores most of the runs for RR late down the order.
Its 105/3 in 11.3 overs, Poor move by Shane Warne to send Tanvir Up at #3, Poor game awareness on part of Tanvir he targeted the bowler who already took two wickets in his previous over he should have waited for Mishra or YoMahesh to come on, the match is still poised its absolutely crucial for RR that Watson stays till end. The wicket has some bounce and spin, Shane warne will be a handful on this pitch.
Kaif should keep on rotating the strike. If RR scored close 190-200 they will win this match, although the wicket is good for batting but except for the top three Delhi don’t have enough fire power to chase that big of a score against the best bowling side of the tournament.
Thanks SP:
What I like about Delhi is their batsmen don’t take any pressure and Sehwag and Gambhir batted through out the tournament aggressively.
I am torn between the two teams both are my favorites, but I will give Delhi a 60% chance to win this game.
very well analyzed wasim!!
i think both 3D and KXP are like storms that can upset anybody…its only when the pause to breath they look vulnerable…
I have been putting my take on Delhi winning this tourno… what’s your team wasim?