New Delhi: Young Rishabh Pant cracked a blistering knock (69, 29b, 7×4, 5×6) while captain Shreyas Iyer (50, 35b, 3×4, 3×6) hit his fourth half century of the season as Delhi Daredevils (DD) kept themselves in the race for IPL play-offs with a nervy four-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) here Wednesday night. RR were a wee bit short of the target for a simple reason – D’Arcy Short’s (44, 25b, 2×4, 4×6) knock.
A 25-ball 44 should not be criticised, but Short at one stage had scored 12 off 19 deliveries and in a chase where they had to get 151 runs in 12 runs, that proved telling. That stalled the chase for RR for whom Jos Buttler (67, 26b, 4×4, 7×5) batted brilliantly at the top of the order. With Short failing to keep the momentum going, Buttler had to take too many risks and ultimately perished stumped off the bowling off Amit Mishra (1/12).
The Royals invited Daredevils to bat but were guilty of feeding the home batsmen with deliveries either too short or too full, making the job easy for the hosts after rain made it a 18-over per side affair.
Rain brought a premature end to the DD innings when the hosts were 196 for six in 17.1 overs and RR were set a revised target of 151 from 12 overs under Duckworth/Lewis method. They ended at 146 for five with Trent Boult (2/26) getting rid of the dangerous Sanju Samson (three) and Ben Stokes (one). However, they should not be blamed as by then due to Short’s inability to force the pace, the asking rate had gone close to 17 per over.
Brief scores
DD 196/6 in 17.1 overs (Rishabh Pant 69, Shreyas Iyer 50, Prithvi Shaw 47; Jaydev Unadkat 3/46) bt RR 146/5 in 12 overs (Jos Buttler 67, D’Arcy Short 44; Trent Boult 2/26) by four runs in D/L method.
press trust of India
