Delhi Capitals players in a huddle during their match against Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah on Friday.
Delhi Capitals are back at the top of the IPL 2020 table after the side posted a comfortable 46-run win over Rajasthan Royals at the Sharjah Cricket Ground on Friday.
The victory came on a day when the Sharjah wickets finally did some favours to the bowlers with DC becoming the first side to not to post 200-plus total on the wicket. However their 184/8, after some brisk hitting by Shimron Hetmyer (45 off 24) and Marcu Stoinis (39 off 34), was more than enough against a struggling Rajasthan Royals who could only manage 138 all out in return.
The entire Delhi bowling worked cohesively as a unit with R Ashwin, Marcus Stoinis and Kagiso Rabada picking two wickets each while Anrich Nortje, Axar Patel and Harshal Patel contributing with a wicket apiece.
Defending the total, Delhi Capitals struck early with R Ashwin removing Jos Buttler (13) in the third over with just 15 runs on the board for RR.
Skipper Steve Smith (24 off 17) tried to bring the side back on track but with Yashashvi Jaiswal struggling at the other end meant the Aussie star was forced to take undue risks. He lost his wicket to Andre Nortje in his attempt to accelerate the run chase with just 58 runs in RR’s account in the eighth over.
This turned out to be beginning of the end for RR as wickets started falling thick and fast from this point onwards.
RR saw their next five wickets fall within 38 runs with Sanju Samson (5 off 9) first to fall to Stoinis. He was followed by Mahipal Lomror (1 off 2) and Yashashi Jaiswal (34 off 36), Andrew Tye (6 off 6) and Jofra Archer (2 off 4) in quick intervals with DC bowlers taking turns to pick wickets.
With half the side back to the pavilion, RR looked out of sorts with 96 needed out of the last 7 overs and were bundled out for …. Rahul Tewatia (38 off
Batting first, Delhi Capitals suffered early blow in Shikhar Dhawan (5 off 4) with RR pacer Jofra Archer ending his powerplay bowling woes with the first wicket in the opening overs. Interestingly this was Archer’s first wicket in over 50 deliveries in the powerplay.
The English speedster soon doubled his tally as he caught and bowled in-form Prithvi Shaw (19) in the fifth over after inviting the young opener to play a rash shot.
DC brought more misery upon themselves after their skipper Shreyas Iyer (22 off 17) was run out after a perfect aim at the stump by youngster Yashashvi Jaiswal; leaving the capital outfit reeling at 51/3 by the end of 6th over.
This was followed by a short 21-ball 28 partnership with no.4 Rishabh Pant and no.5 Marcus Stoinis with the latter being the aggressor. But the team ran himself into trouble yet again after Pant (5 off 9) was run out at the non-strikers end after a mix-up with Stoinis.
The Oz tried making amends for the goof-up in another shot stand with Shimron Hetmyer but couldn’t turn a good start into a big innnigs. Stoinis (39 off 30) fell to Rahul Tewatia in the 14th over but not before taking a troubled DC past the 100-mark.
Some slogging from Hetmyer (45 off 24), Axar Patel (17 off 8) took DC to 184/8 with Archer being the pick among bowlers with 3/24 while Tyagi and Tewatia scalped one wicket apiece.
