It was a promising performance by the Rajasthan Royals which saw them winning their 2nd game of the tournament against Delhi Daredevils by 10 runs under Duckworth-Lewis Method. Some good batting by Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson helped them post a competitive 153 on the board when the rain came and played spoilsport. The bowlers did their job when play resumed. They defended 71 of 6 overs quite brilliantly to hand Rajasthan a 10 runs victory.
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Batting first, Rajasthan Royals got off to a poor start losing D’Arcy Short in only the 2nd over. The southpaw smashed a brilliant boundary before getting run out by Vijay Shankar. Ben Stokes came up the order. He smashed the first six of the match when he swivelled outside the off stump and smashed a big six. He smashed one more boundary before perishing to Trent Boult. It was a gem of a delivery which totally squared up the left-hander.
Sanju Samson came in at the fall of Stokes’ wicket and looked in good touch from the outset. He started taking on the bowlers and smashed a couple of fours and sixes each during his breezy knock of 37 of just 22 deliveries. Rahane, on the other hand, batted sensibly and ensured that Rajasthan had a specialist batsman who held the fort at one end.
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Buttler also came in and provided the much-needed impetus. He raced off to 29 of just 18 deliveries which were studded with a couple of fours and sixes each. Rahul Tripathi also chipped in with a 11 balls 15 as Rajasthan reached 153/5 when the rain started pouring down. No play was possible for the next two hours. When the match did resume, Delhi required 71 to chase down in 6 overs. Meanwhile, Shahbaz Nadeem bagged a couple of wickets for Delhi while Mohammed Shami and Trent Boult chipped in with a wicket each.
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Before the match, the Delhi skipper Gambhir would have taken a target of 71 in 6 overs with all 10 wickets in hand. Due to the reduction of overs, the captain decided to send his power hitters up the order. Colin Munro and Glenn Maxwell walked out in the middle to begin proceedings. Krishnappa Gowtham, the offie was handed over the ball to deliver the 1st over.
In the very first delivery, Munro was run-out while going for a non-existent run. The run was certainly not on. Rishabh Pant came in at his fall and smashed a couple of boundaries to begin with. 10 runs were scored off the opening over. Dhawal Kulkarni provided a brilliant 2nd over conceding just 4 runs which pushed the required run rate way up.
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Glenn Maxwell finally smashed a four and a six of Jaydev Unadkat after the left-arm pacer bowled some tight first 3 deliveries of the 3rd over. Pant was eventually dismissed Unadkat while Morris also chipped in with a quickfire 17 of 7 deliveries. Delhi eventually mustered only 60 runs in their allotted 6 overs, thus handing Rajasthan a 10 runs victory. Ben Laughlin was the most successful bowler for Rajasthan bagging 2 wickets for 20 runs in 2 overs.
Photo by: Deepak Malik / IPL/ SPORTZPICS
Brief Scores
Rajasthan Royals 153/5 in 17.5 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 45*, Sanju Samson 37, Shahbaz Nadeem 2/34)
Delhi Daredevils 60/4 in 6 overs (Rishabh Pant 20, Chris Morris 17*, Ben Laughlin 2/20)
Rajasthan Royals won by 10 runs (D/L method)
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