In the match number 53 of the Indian Premier League (IPL), hosts Delhi Capitals record a fine five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday (May 4) evening. The all-round show saw Capitals securing 18 points on the IPL 2019 points table with nine wins in 14 matches.
The hosts overhauled the target in 16.1 overs. Rishabh Pant remained unbeaten on 53 off 38 balls. Sherfane Rutherford scored 11*.
2nd Innings – Delhi Capitals:
In a bid to chase the paltry target of 116, Capitals had a quick start. But the leg-spinner in the fourth over of Capitals’ innings has put breaks on hosts innings. Sodhi has removed both the openers; Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw in two successive balls.
Shaw, who had a horrible season scored run-a-ball eight, whereas, in-form Dhawan scored 16 off nine balls.
However, skipper Shreyas Iyer alongside wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has paced up the innings quite well. Iyer 15 (9) and Pant added 33 runs for the third wicket, as Gopal managed to dismiss the former.
1st Innings – Rajasthan Royals:
At home, Capitals’ skipper Iyer won the toss and opted two first on a scorching day.
Royals openers were looking for a cautious start, but they were bamboozled by the Capitals bowlers throughout the innings.
While kicking off Royals’ innings, Ajinkya Rahane alongside Liam Livingstone found the surface pretty tough to bat on. On the final delivery of the second over, lanky pacer Ishant Sharma has dropped the first blood by dismissing skipper Rahane. The interim skipper could score two off four balls which he has faced during the final group stage fixture.
However, England pick Livingstone 14 (13) couldn’t read a slower one from Ishant when ball dislodged the bails.
The flurry of wickets has also put the break on run-rate when the order batsman Sanju Samson 5 (8) was involved in a terrible mix-up with Mahipal Lomror 8 (3).
Besides, Ishant accounted for Lomror’s wicket.
After Shaw affected the run out dismissal of Samson, Shreyas Gopal had faced 18 deliveries for his 12 before leg-spinner Amit Mishra deceived him all hands up.
On the side, the only highlight has been Riyan Parag, who has shone in the limited number of opportunities.
Parag has somewhat pulled his team out of dire straits when they were seven for 65 in 11.3 overs.
Interestingly, Parag also became the youngest player to struck fifty in IPL history.
Meanwhile, Stuart Binny couldn’t open his account, whereas, Krishnappa Gowtham scored run-a-ball six as both got dismissed on the bowling of Mishra. Ish Sodhi consumed 11 deliveries for his six.
However, Varun Aaron remained not out on three off seven deliveries.
Capitals bowlers ran riot:
In the bowling department, Amit Mishra was the pick of the bowlers with three for 17 in his four overs. Ishant has bagged three scalps after conceding 38 runs off 24 deliveries. Boult managed to pick two wickets in his quota of four overs.
Thus, Royals managed to score 115 for nine in 20 overs.
Here’s the scorecard for Rajasthan Royals at Feroz Shah Kotla:
