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A ruthless New South Wales breezed into the final of the Champions League Twenty20, steamrolling country cousins Victoria Bushrangers by 79 runs in a grossly lop-sided semi-final in Delhi on Wednesday night.
New South Wales, under Simon Katich, hardly broke a sweat in the all-Australian encounter, first powering their way to 169 for seven and then unleashing their hungry bowlers, who restricted Victoria to 90 for nine.
Chasing 170, Victoria's pursuit looked doomed with three top order batsmen back in the hut inside three overs. All they could manage was 90 runs for nine in 20 overs, Matthew Wade's unbeaten 23 being the highest individual score.
Earlier, openers David Warner (48) and Phil Hughes (35) added 62 runs inside seven overs as New South Wales posted 169 for seven, a total that could have been even healthier.
Considering NSW's bowling arsenal, it was always going to be a stiff chase, but Victoria probably may never have imagined that their first six runs would cost them three top order batsmen.
For NSW, Brett Lee began with a maiden over and then returned to cut short Aiden Blizzard's (5) stay in the third over.
In between, off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, pressed early into action, struck with his third and fifth deliveries, removing both the scoreless openers -- Rob Quiney and Brad Hodge -- to set the cat among the Victoria pigeons.
Moises Henriques ended the lull of the next five overs by removing David Hussey (16) with his first delivery and accounting for Victoria captain Cameron White (11) in his next over.
The all-rounder went on to add Clint McKay's scalp to finish with three for 11.
At 39 for five, Victoria needed a miracle to win the match. But nothing of the sort happened and New South Wales cruised home.
Earlier, wary of chasing on Ferozeshah Kotla's much-derided track, Katich opted to bat first and the in-form left-handed duo of Hughes and Warner walked out to vindicate the decision.
Shane Harwood's measly first over, yielding just one run, was merely the lull before the storm, with Warner in the thick of action.
Warner welcomed Harwood on his return with back-to-back fours, but worse awaited Peter Siddle.
Warner hit the first two balls from Siddle for boundaries and after a dot ball later, lifted him over long-off ropes. Siddle bled 19 runs in that forgettable over.
Next, it was Clint McKay who saw his delivery soar over the same long-off ropes.
Siddle bore the brunt of Warner's wrath, copping back-to-back boundaries as NSW crossed the 50-mark in the sixth over.
Warner was in no mood to relent, and the way he treated the Victoria bowlers it was clear that none of them could dismiss him.
The swashbuckling left-hander returned run-out in the seventh over, having dominated in the 62-run opening stand.
Warner's spectacular 25-ball 48 was studded with seven fours and two sixes.
Hughes maintained the tempo and milked 13 runs off Jon Holland's first over before a Clint McKay slower delivery castled him.
Hughes needed 28 balls to score those 35 brisk runs that included four fours and a six.
Neither Daniel Smith (20) nor Katich (26) could match Warner's aggression but both scored quickly enough to haul the team past the 100-mark in 11 overs before they fell in a nine-ball span.
Andrew McDonald and Harwood stemmed the flow of runs with disciplined bowling as NSW somewhat ran out of steam towards the end despite having the platform to go for the late charge that could have swelled the tally.