WinDaddy feels extremely thrilled to witness the comeback by the zestful team of Rajasthan Royal giving most of the cricket freak-out fever with a bold new avatar of the season 14 of the Indian Premier League where Delhi Capitals were left in the pitch dark hole in the end of the game. The fight to finish was simply razor sharp turning the last delivery into a close shave.
Even the expert team of WinDaddy have discovered much to amazement that the struggle element for the Delhi Capital squad has to be pursued vigorously without taking team’s performance for granted.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) registered their first victory in this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), beating Delhi Capitals (DC) in the last over of the match by three wickets. Chris Morris justified his high price-tag in the late stages of the match when he hit Kagiso Rabada and Tom Curran for multiple sixes to take RR over the line. Earlier, RR started poorly, losing three wickets inside four overs, including skipper Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler in their pursuit of a 148-run target.
David Miller put the Rajasth R train back on track with a gutsy fifty to bring the run-rate just in reach for Morris to execute his final assault. This was RR’s first victory in this season, after losing out a close one to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the opener.
It looked like a lost cause when David Miller fell for 62. Chris Morris struggled to time the ball against Avesh Khan in the 18th over. But with 27 needed off 12, Morris got stuck into KG Rabada, collecting 15 off the Protean fast bowler. Needing 12 off the last over, Morris got Rajasthan over the line with three wickets and two balls to spare. Morris showing why Rajasthan shelled out the big bucks for him in the auction. He clobbered four sixes tonight. What a night. Rishabh Pant’s well-crafted 51 will have to take a backseat tonight
Opting to bowl, RR pacer Jaydev Unadkat took three wickets for 15 runs to restrict the Capitals to 147 for eight.
Miller then anchored the Royals’ chase but it was Morris whose blitzkrieg took Royals home with two balls to spare. It is Royals’ first win of the season.
Morris ended the run chase with a six off Tom Curran.
Earlier, a brilliant three-wicket burst from pacer Jaydev Unadkat helped RR restrict DC to 147 for eight.
Unadkat (3/15 off 4 overs) dismissed Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane to trigger DC’s top-order collapse from which they never recovered fully.
Captain Rishabh Pant’s blistering 32-ball 51, studded with nine fours, was not enough as DC could only post a modest total after being put in to bat.
DC made a disastrous start as they were two wickets down for 16 runs in the fourth over with Unadkat dismissing the opening duo of Shaw (2) and Dhawan (9) cheaply.
Pant, in excellent form this year, reached to his fifty off 30 balls in the 12th over, with a four off Mustafizur but he was run out the next over with bowler Riyan Parag’s throw crashing onto the stumps.