Warne praises Royals

Shane Warne has lead the Rajastan Royals to the final of the IPL © Getty Images

Rajasthan skipper Shane Warne had nothing but praise for his players after the Royals secured a commanding victory over Delhi Daredevils in the semi-finals of the Indian Premier League.

Warne’s side thrashed an out-of-sorts Delhi by 105 runs at the Wankhede Stadium with Shane Watson turning in an all-round performance.

“We had plans in place for this game and the guys executed them perfectly,” said Warne.

“We wanted to bowl short of length, bowl fast and into the body. Munaf Patel was very good but it was exceptional the way the guys responded as a team. Everything went right. It was a near-perfect game for us.

“Intensity has been one thing that we have showed right through this tournament. Every player has contributed and they have all played their role almost to perfection.”

Man-of-the-match Watson came in for special praise from the skipper.

“Throughout the series he has been superb,” Warne said. “He lost a bit of the edge in the last few games, but today (Friday) he was absolutely fantastic and showed his class.

“He's a fantastic all-round cricketer and good enough to be in the Australian team.”

Watson top-scored for the Royals with 52 off 29 deliveries, before dismissing the dangerous Virender Sehwag (three) and Gautam Gambhir (11) in quick succession to leave the Daredevils reeling.

And the Australian all-rounder believes his successful display was down to his early cautious approach.

“I took a while to get used to the pace of the wicket and then used it in my favour,” he said.

“We had to attack since we were batting first and you never know what sort of a total is safe. The wicket had a bit of bounce and it helped me in the bowling.

“It is an amazing run for me in IPL. There have been a few ups and downs but it has been great.”