Rishabh Pant smashed 69 off 29 balls to set up Daredevils total and Rajasthan Royals were caught four runs short in the rain-hit game despite Jos Buttler’s racy half-century.
Between two match-curtailing squalls unfolded a T20 blockbuster all Indian that still needed masterful bowling from Trent Boult as Delhi Daredevils clinched a resuscitating but jittery four-run win over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.
Daredevils pulled off a four-run win under the rain rule despite a blistering counterattack from Royals opener Jos Buttler (67 off 26 balls). Daredevils scored 196/6 in 17.1 overs, and RR, needing 151 off 12 overs, finished on 146/5 at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.
With Delhi Daredevils needing a win to stay alive in IPL 2018, their explosive core of Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant came, saw and conquered as Rajasthan Royals’ Indian bowlers overestimated their prowess to mess up their lengths.
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Consecutive partnerships of 73 and 92 and a Vijay Shankar cameo meant Delhi were beautifully placed even though opener Colin Munro got a golden duck off just the fourth delivery of the match. Shaw and Iyer were more precision and timing, but it was Pant’s brutal 69 off 29 balls that left Rajasthan gobsmacked.
To compile a revised target of 151 was too much to ask despite the promising start from Rajasthan Royals openers D’Arcy Short and Buttler. And despite running Delhi close, Royals wouldn’t be wrong in thinking their Indian bowlers let them down.
Between Dhawal Kulkarni and Jaydev Unadkat 83 runs were leaked in seven overs. Between back of the length and full, they didn’t quite find the right spot. Spin too wasn’t spared as K Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal conceded 53 in four overs. Half the battle was lost there.
Iyer and Shaw hurt Rajasthan but Pant messed with their pride by unleashing a stunning innings that saw him pulling and smashing at will. The result was nothing short of mayhem as he completed his fifty off 23 deliveries before becoming the top scorer of the tournament to place Delhi in a winning position.
Buttler threatened to spoil Delhi’s homecoming with an innings so menacing that some of the Delhi bowlers, especially Avesh Khan, might have to do some soul searching. Three sixes and a boundary in a 23-run third over helped Buttler stamp his authority before he plundered an 18-ball fifty.
That took Royals to 82 in 6.4 overs, but the quick dismissals of Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes meant D’Arcy Short had to take over reins of the chase. He looked like doing a stellar job till Avesh caught him at short third man off an otherwise expensive over from Glenn Maxwell.
Gowtham looked like gatecrashing Delhi’s party by bringing down the equation to 15 runs off six balls but Boult brought all his experience into play after a nervous wide to take Delhi across the line.
