Brett Lee of New South Wales Blues celebrates one of his wickets in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI)

New Delhi: A power-packed batting performance, followed by some accurate bowling propelled the New South Wales (NSW) Blues into the final of the Champions League T20 with an overwhelming 79 runs victory over the Victoria Bushrangers at the Kotla on Wednesday.

Watched by a crowd of 15,000, who thoroughly enjoyed yet another professional display from the Blues, NSW amassed an impressive 169 for seven owing largely to the efforts of their two left-handed openers — Man of the Match David Warner (48) and Phillip Hughes (35).

In reply, Victoria found the going tough from the very beginning as off-spinner Nathan Hauritz picked up the vital wickets of Rob Quiney and Brad Hodge in the second over to break their rivals’ backbone. Victoria also lost Aiden Blizzard in the next over to be reduced to six for three.

In the end, Victoria could manage only 90 for the loss of nine wickets with Mathew Wade the top-scorer on an unbeaten 22. Hauritz and Brett Lee (two each) and Moises Henriques (three) were the main wicket takers.

NSW’s domination started in the second over when Warner launched a blistering attack on the Victoria bowlers. He started his onslaught hitting Shane Harwood for a sensational four.

Warner was harsh on pacer Peter Siddle when he plundered 19 runs in the fourth over. Two back to back boundaries that sped to the fence like bullets were followed by a dot ball before Warner stepped up to hit two huge straight sixes. Warner looked good to go on for ever but Victoria were lucky to get him run out. Called for a suicidal single after Hughes pushed the ball to point, Warner was beaten by at least six yards. Left two runs short of a well-deserved half-century, Warner looked thoroughly dejected as he walked into the tunnel.

Warner’s 25-ball innings was studded with seven fours apart from the two sixes.

Thereafter, it was left to Hughes to step up and he hit Jon Holland for a boundary and a six in the same over. His 35 had four boundaries and one six, and came off 28 deliveries.

After Hughes was dismissed, Daniel Smith and skipper Simon Katich kept the momentum going, picking boundaries early in the over and working the singles after that.

Victoria did manage to put a check on the run rate in the last five overs as they got four wickets in return for only 37 runs.