New Delhi: Abhishek Porel and KL Rahul hit fluent half-centuries as Delhi Capitals overhauled a competitive Rajasthan Royals total to register a five-wicket victory in their Indian Premier League clash Sunday.
Porel, playing only his third IPL match of the season, looked in fine touch during his 31-ball 51, while KL Rahul bounced back from a couple of underwhelming outings with a composed 56 off 42 deliveries as Delhi Capitals completed the chase of 194 in 19.2 overs.
The opening pair stitched together a match-winning 105-run partnership that laid the foundation for DC’s chase, before Axar Patel scored an unbeaten 34 off 18 deliveries to complete the chase.
Earlier, Mitchell Starc starred with the ball for DC, producing a devastating spell of fast bowling to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 193 for 8.
Starc ripped through the RR middle order in a dramatic 15th over, dismissing a well-set Riyan Parag (51), Donovan Ferreira (0) and Ravi Singh (4).
The left-arm pacer struck off the second, third and fifth deliveries of the over, narrowly missing out on a hat-trick.
Teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also contributed with 46 off 21.
The southpaw surpassed the likes of Virat Kohli and Abhishek Sharma to become the Indian batter with the most sixes (43) in a single IPL season.
Despite the collapse, Rajasthan Royals still managed a competitive total thanks to impressive half-centuries from skipper Parag and Dhruv Jurel, who made 53 off 40 balls.
