To the delight of Rajasthan Royals, they entered the semifinals of the CLT20 2013 with a stunning nine-wicket victory over Perth Scorchers in the 2nd match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on 29th September Sunday.
Rajasthan bowled first and pushed Perth out for 120 and further reached the target in only 16.3 overs.
Remarkably, Rajasthan became the first team from Group A to guarantee qualification with 12 points from 3 matches. Then they will join Chennai Super Kings-the only other team who occupied a semifinal spot.
It was observed that Rajasthan’s victory was built by the bowlers and completed by the batsmen. Particularly, Kevon Cooper did the star turn with the ball, taking 4 for 18 from four overs, whereas Pravin Tambe as well as James Faulkner had supported wickets each.
Ajinkya Rahane scored 62 not out off 53 and Sanju Samson further signed off the dismissal of Rahul Dravid for a duck during the first over to take Rajathan home easily. Initially, Samson was quite aggressive but as the 120-run 2nd-wicket stand advanced, Rahane entered his groove and took runs. Both Samson and Rahane played strongly off their pads and got the better of the bowlers whenever they got the chance. With the development of the partnership, they grew more comfortable and sporadically punished even the good balls. In fact, Rahane played a Tendulkar-like style against Jason Behrendorff that bounced inside the ropes and reached half-century with a six off Michael Beer. Then, Samson got into a deserved fifty with a straight-driven four off Joe Mennie and remained unbeaten on 50 (42 balls). On the other side, Behrendorff (1 for 28) took the only wicket to fall.
Particularly, Perth’s batsmen didn’t allow even when a couple of wickets fell. Further, Liam Davis led the bowlers and although he fell to Faulkner following a 12-ball 18, Perth’s run-rate became healthy. Opener Ashton Agar followed Davis shortly, leaving Perth with 29 for 2 in 4.1 overs. Adam Voges along with Simon Katich got together in Perth’s best part of the match. As long as the pair was together, Perth looked healthy for a competitive total. Notably, Voges was timing the ball well, as Katich-the captain, played the supporting role.
Just as he performed during Rajasthan’s victory against Highveld Lions, Tambe entered and made the difference. He ousted Katich with a googly that pushed him out for Samson to end up the stumping. Subsequently, Cooper got into the act to destroy Perth’s middle order.
It cannot be ignored that Perth was relatively safe at 62 for 2 in the 9th over, but then Katich fell, while the rest followed like ninepins as Perth advanced to 97 for 9 in 17.2 overs. Then, Cooper picked four of the wickets to fall, which included the crucial one of Voges, who could not clear Faulkner at long-on. At last, he departed following 27 off 21 balls, which is the highest score of the innings.
However, the last-wicket combo Behrendorff and Beer extended the score with the 2nd-highest partnership of the innings (23) and Perth was bowled out off the final ball as Beer was run out attempting to steal a bye.
The addition of those runs was never supposed to be of more than cosmetic value against a team, who has recently won 11 of 11 matches across IPL VI and the CLT20 in Jaipur in 2013.
