Once again, Delhi proved how good a side it is. Even though their batsmen failed, the bowlers have won it for them by defending a modest score of 161 runs. Thus, they had a 13-run victory over Rajasthan Royals. Barring Ben Stokes (41), no one played a stand-out innings for Rajasthan. For Delhi, it was Shikhar Dhawan (57), Shreyas Iyer (53) and all the bowlers who have contributed to this victory.
Delhi’s skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bat first. Their team got a shocker as opener Prithvi Shaw got clean bowled by Jofra Archer on the first ball of the innings. Ajinkya Rahane, who came first down, also got out pretty early. Then, Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer built the game by setting up a solid partnership. After an 85-run stand, this partnership got broken when Dhawan got out. Later, Iyer finished his half-century and got out as well. In the end, Delhi couldn’t score many runs due to the tight bowling of Rajasthan. Thus, they finished their innings by scoring 161/7 in 20 overs. Jofra Archer scalped three wickets of Delhi.
Rajasthan got a good start while chasing this total. They scored almost 40 runs in the first three overs. But soon, Delhi got hold of the situation by sending Jos Buttler and Steve Smith back to the pavilion inside the powerplay. After that, Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson settled the things. When they were set in the crease, Delhi’s bowlers got their wickets in the consecutive overs. Last match’s hero Riyan Parag also got out without making any impact. Thus, Robin Uthappa and Rahul Tewatia had the job of taking their team to the shores of victory. That’s when Delhi’s bowlers made a strong comeback. They bowled brilliantly in the death overs and restricted Rajasthan to a score of 148/8 in 20 overs.
Scorecard:
Delhi Capitals: 161/7 (S Dhawan 57, S Iyer 53, J Archer 3/19)
Rajasthan Royals: 148/8 (B Stokes 41, R Uthappa 32, A Nortje 2/33)