Delhi Capitals. (Source -IPL/BCCI)
Delhi Capitals defeated Rajasthan Royals by 20 runs at Arun Jaitley Stadium and with that, they have kept their hopes alive to qualify for the playoffs of IPL 2024. There were a lot of ups and downs for them in the match, but their bowlers have done tremendously well in the last five overs to get the job done and win the match pretty comfortably.
When it comes to batting, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Abishek Porel gave a scintillating start to the host. Fraser-McGurk particularly wreaked havoc and smashed 50 runs off 20 balls after which, Porel took control of the situation. The youngster made 65 runs off 36 deliveries and set the tone but unfortunately, there was very little support for him in the middle. Towards the fag end, Tristan Stubbs played a good cameo of 41 runs off 20 balls, which helped the Rishabh Pant-led side post 221 runs on the board.
Chasing a mammoth target, Rajasthan had a very poor start. They lost the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal rather early and Jos Buttler too didn’t look to be in good touch. However, skipper Sanju Samson once again stepped up and played brilliant cricket to bail Rajasthan out of a difficult spot. He hit 86 runs off 46 balls and got out in a controversial manner, which has started a debate on social media.
Shai Hope who caught him near the ropes may have touched the rope in the process but the third umpire ruled that out. After his dismissal, RR batters showed little courage and the game was done and dusted eventually. Rovman Powell and Donovan Ferreira were expected to contribute towards the end, but that didn’t happen, which led to the defeat.
Also Read – Who is Donovan Ferreira?
1. Freak show of ridiculousness
Jake Fraser-McGurk seemed to be a beast on a mission. He was ruthless from the very start and smashed Avesh Khan for 28 runs in an over. The Australia international once again managed to give a great start to the hosts, which helped the team post a massive total on the board.
2. Mr Dependable Sanju Samson
Unlike all the previous seasons, Sanju Samson has been consistent in IPL 2024. He had a habit of starting the tournament well but failing to keep up with the momentum. However, this time, Sanju is delivering time and again and that’s a good sign for Team India ahead of the T20 World Cup.
3. Kuldeep Yadav show continues
Spin wizard Kuldeep Yadav once again was brilliant with the ball. On a surface that didn’t support the spinners much, Kuldeep gave away just 25 runs and picked up two wickets which pushed Rajasthan out of the contest.
Losing skipper Sanju Samson said:
I think we had it in our hands, it was like 11-12 runs per over, it was achievable, these things happen in IPL. Yes, we are doing both the things fine, we will like to stick what the conditions demand, 220 was 10 runs extra to chase, the DC opener came out and did what he does, we still came back well. We have lost three games but all those games have been really tight, we have been playing remarkably well, we have to do some fine-tuning and we need to keep the momentum going. Yes and No actually, you have to give credit to someone like Stubbs who batted well against Sandeep, he scored 2-3 sixes extra against my best bowlers who are Yuzi Chahal and Sandeep Sharma. We have lost the game, we have to find out where we lost the game, we need to keep moving.
Winning skipper Rishabh Pant said:
The way our bowlers executed at the back end was the main positive and it was really good to see. We will try to learn from every game. Even when we lose or win, we will keep our head down and keep moving forward. As always Kuldeep delivered which was great to see. It was close to par and at the same time we were thinking that if we can restrict them to 200 that would be fair and that was the thought process.
POTM Kuldeep Yadav said:
It is very important to bowl on a good length and that’s the main challenge when I bowl in the death overs. I have played against him (Ferreira) in South Africa and I knew he was a back foot player and wanted to stay a little full and quick and got him out first ball. I bowled a couple of seam-up deliveries to read what the batters are doing. Just the length matters for me and that was the plan. Whenever we score 200-plus obviously lot of pressure on the bowler and it is also an opportunity to take wickets and I was trying to back my strengths and keep believing.