Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant lavishes praise on his bowlers for successfully defending 154-6 to hand RR a 33-run defeat
DC offie R Ashwin during their IPL clash against RR on Saturday; (right) Shreyas Iyer en route his 43 v RR. Pics/BCCI, IPL
Delhi Capitals’ bowlers made up for the team’s underwhelming display with the bat to hand Rajasthan Royals a 33-run defeat in their Indian Premier League match, here on Saturday.
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The Capitals’ bowling unit restricted the Royals to 121 for six after the team put up 154 for six on the back of Shreyas Iyer’s 43 and a late flourish provided by Shimron Hetmyer, who scored 28 runs off 16 balls.
RR skipper Sanju Samson looked in sublime touch, scoring an unbeaten 70, but with wickets tumbling at regular intervals from the other end, the Royals innings failed to get the momentum it needed.
Nortje shines
South African pacer Anrich Nortje (2-18) led the Delhi bowlers who performed as a cohesive unit. Avesh Khan (1-29), Kagiso Rabada (1-26), Axar Patel (1-27), Ravichandran Ashwin (1-20) snapped a wicket each.
Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant on Saturday gushed that his attack is one the best in the league. “If not the best, it is one of the best,” Pant said at the post-match presentation.
“But we like to take it one match at a time. There’s a fair bit of planning, as a team we plan according to the batters, and execute according to those plans,” Pant added.
With the win, the Capitals returned to the top of the table while the Royals moved down to the sixth spot.
Defending a modest total, pacers Avesh and Nortje provided an electric start that the Capitals needed, sending back both openers—Liam Livingstone (1) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (5) in the first two overs.
Pant made a bowling change by bringing in Ashwin and the senior Indian spinner got rid of the dangerous David Miller (7) to leave the Royals tottering at 17 for three.
With the required run rate increasing, Rajasthan needed 107 runs in the last 10 overs.
Samson and young Mahipal Lomror (19) seemed to be reviving the innings, but the ever-reliant Rabada nipped the partnership in the bud. Riyan Parag (2) and Rahul Tewatia (9) couldn’t provide a valuable contribution either.
Samson was going strong, hitting boundaries at will but the Delhi bowlers came back strongly.
155 was chaseable: Sanju
RR skipper Samson rued the lost chance to grab two points. “A target of 155 with the quality of batsmen we have, I thought it was chaseable. We had the batting to go after it. We will come back stronger in the next game,” he said.
Earlier, the Royals pacers—led by Mustafizur Rahman (2-22), Chetan Sakariya (2-33) and Kartik Tyagi (1-40)—shared five wickets.
Tyagi, the star of the match against Punjab Kings, drew first blood with his very first delivery in the fourth over, cleaning up Orange Cap holder Shikhar Dhawan (8).
Prithvi Shaw (10) soon followed his opening partner back to the dugout, slicing a ball off Sakariya to Livingstone at mid-off. At the end of the Powerplay, the Capitals were 36-2.
Brief scores
DC 154-6 (S Iyer 43, S Hetmyer 28, R Pant 24; M Rahman 2-22, C Sakariya 2-33) beat RR 121-6 (S Samson 70*; A Nortje 2-18) by 33 runs
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