Thrifty Warne gets a Maharoof mauling

Mon, May 12 12:35 AM

JAIPUR'S STRONG run continued in the first half of their match against Delhi with only a late charge boosting the visitors's total to 156. For the best part of the innings Jaipur were in total control, and had Shane Warne not registered unusually expensive figures of 0 for 47 from his four overs, the match as a contest would have ended by the halfway mark.

Thankfully for Delhi, Farveez Maharoof played enough big shots to keep his team in the hunt. When Warne said he had a plan to keep Virender Sehwag quiet, he wasn't joking.

But planning a strategy and implementing it successfully are two different things and Warne found ideal footsoldiers in Dimitri Mascarenhas and Shane Watson. The line of attack was on middle and leg, hitting the deck hard.

Watson, with his ability to extract extra bounce was spectacular, conceding only 3 runs in the 10 balls he bowled to Sehwag. With the runs not flowing, the sucker ball, short and a bit wide of the stumps, was too much to resist and Sehwag cut it straight to point.

Delhi's dependence on their top three to deliver came a cropper as Shikhar Dhawan was involved in a senseless mix-up and run out, making him the second wicket in the space of six balls. Gautam Gambhir played some meaty strokes through the off-side and found ways to keep the scoreboard ticking despite repeated failed attempts to run the ball down to third-man.

When he failed to pick a Siddharth Trivedi slower one and dragged the ball back onto his stumps, Delhi had lost their three most prolific batsmen with only 68 on the board and just over half-the innings left to play. When Delhi announced their squad before the start of the tournament, one of the things they stressed on was getting at least a couple of internationals from one country so there would be some "connect" within the dressing-room.

That connect was taken out to the middle in some style by the Sri Lankan duo of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Maharoof. The two came together with the innings in tatters at 100 for 6 - AB de Villiers, Dinesh Karthik and IPL debutant Amit Mishra having gone - and provided a late flourish that gave the innings respectability.

They added 54 in 22 balls, with Maharoof taking Warne apart like no one has in this tournament, brutally and rather unaesthetically clubbing him for 27 runs in the 19th over. Maharoof began with a one-handed six over long-off.

He came down the pitch next ball to launch a drive over the on-side and Mohammad Kaif's diving catch at long-on went in vain as he landed on the boundary rope. The last two balls were clubbed over midwicket and Maharoof's subsequent dismissal after a 16-ball 39 mattered little as Delhi reached 156.

This at least gave their strong attack something to bowl at.

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