Mumbai,May 30: Clearly, Delhi had learnt no lessons from their faltering qualifying campaign. Having squeezed into the semifinals of the Indian Premier League it was expected that they would at least have made an attempt to paper over the cracks, bit none of that was evident as Virender Sehwag’s side slumped to a 105-run defeat to the rampant Rajasthan Royals.

It was an embarrassing no-contest. With the Mumbai crowd having adopted Shane Warne’s Royals as their own in the absence of the home side, it was truly an away game for the Daredevils. Unfortunately, there was neither daring, nor devilry in their cricket at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday night.

Defending 193 , the Royals gave themselves the perfect start with Sehwag once again throwing it all away in the second over itself, essaying a thoughtless pull against Shane Watson. It was to set the tone for the carnage that followed. In the next four overs, the Royals winkled out another three batsmen and as a contest the game was as good as dead. In the end, Delhi managed a meagre 87 in 16.1 overs.

The only spark of resistance came from Tillekaratne Dilshan who top-scored with 33 (22b, 5x4, 1x6). No other Delhi batsman even reached 20, and in chase of 190-plus, it betrayed two things — a foolish overconfidence and a complete lack of preparation.

Making matters worse was the news of Thursday that two of their side — Dinesh Karthik and Manoj Tewari — had been axed from the national squad that is to tour Bangladesh and Pakistan over the next month. On Friday, Karthik scored 10 and Tewari 0.

For the Royals, Watson was outstanding with the ball, finishing with 3/10 in his three overs. Munaf Patel had 3/17 in his four and Warne 2/21.

Earlier, Delhi leaked runs from everywhere as the Royals pounded their way to a healthy 192/9 with Watson (52), Yusuf Pathan (45) and Swapnil Asnodkar (39) leading the charge.

The Devils made life difficult for themselves by bowling poorly and backing it up with some sloppy work in the field. Catches fell like confetti, fielders overran the ball time and again and all Sehwag could do was watch helplessly as the Royals went about the business of putting on a big enough score to bat their opponents out of the match. And all this after he had won the toss.

It all opened well for the Daredevils with a typically tight Glenn McGrath over, but fell apart almost immediately. At no point of the Royals innings did Delhi have even a semblance of control over proceedings.

Graeme Smith (26) may have been hobbled by his hamstring, but that did not stop him from hitting with brutal power. At the other end, Swapnil Asnodkar was his usual busy self and took to Mohammad Asif’s bowling with gusto. Other than one close runout call against the lamed Smith there was nothing for Delhi to cheer about.

Sixty-five runs came in what appeared to the blink of an eye as Asnodkar edged and pulled his way to his 39 (21b, 6x4), 1x6) but it was Smith who fell first, in the seventh over. Sohail Tanvir came and went and at 78/3, it looked like Delhi had at least regained a semblance of control.

That illusion was rudely shattered Watson breaking loose in Mohammed Kaif’s company. The latter contributed just 12 in a fourth-wicket stand of 52 and that only set the stage for yet more pyrotechnics. Twentyone runs accrued in Yo Mahesh’s third over, Watson clubbing two massive sixes and also breaking his bat in the process.

Between the 10th and 11th overs, the Royals took 38 runs off the flagging Delhi attack, and the pace hotted up still further in the last five, in which a full 50 runs came, even though four wickets fell in the process as Watson and Pathan launched their assault.

Watson got to his 50 (28 balls) with four boundaries and three sixes after Yo Mahesh handed him a life when he overran a lofted shot. Maharoof had set the trend earlier, gifting Asnodkar a life, dropping him on the line before the diminutive opener had really got going. It was that sort of night for Delhi.

Rajasthan Royals had planned well and it showed when every time a wicket fell, it was a signal for the run-rate to actually climb. Pathan clubbed his way to 45 (21b, 3x4, 4x6) and in the six overs he was at the crease, pushed the score up by 62 runs in a series of short but effective partnerships.

By the time Delhi walked in to bat, they were already halfway out of the game. The early carnage, with the first four wickets falling for just 28 runs in 6.2 overs only served to confirm that.

ENDS