Brief scores: Delhi Capitals161/7 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 57, Shreyas Iyer 53; Jofra Archer 3-19)
beat
Rajasthan Royals 148/8 in 20 overs (Ben Stokes 41, Robin Uthappa 32; Tushar Deshpande 2-37, Anrich Nortje 2-33) by 13 runs.
Delhi Capitals extended their purple patch with a nourishing 13-run triumph against Rajasthan Royals in the 31st match of the Indian Premier League 2020. Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan mustered brisk half-centuries before an otherwordly bowling performance spearheaded by Anrich Nortje saw RR lose the plot in response on Thursday, October 15 at the Dubai International Stadium.
Though life isn't always sunshine and butterflies. Iyer popped his shoulder while diving across and had to be rushed off the field with physio Patrich Farhart. However, Dhawan offered a soothing balm in the post-match presser, "He's in pain but his shoulder is moving. We'll get the X-ray report tomorrow."
DC bestowed Tushar Deshpande his debut at the expense of all-rounder Harshal Patel. And even though it were batsmen from his own team at the receiving end, the youngster must've been chuffed to bits after watching firebrand Jofra Archer wreak havoc. He bowled some serious gas, rupturing through Prithvi Shaw's hesitant defensive prod the first ball of the game before hurrying Ajinkya Rahane late on the pull.
However, Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer forged an enterprising 69 to ensure DC stay ahead of the eight-ball despite the early jolts. The closest RR came to snapping the association was when Rahul Tewatia fancied a shy at the non-striker's end, but couldn't hit the bullseye otherwise Dhawan would have been gone for all money.
Having malfunctioned to put his vehicle into overdrive in the previous outing, Dhawan left a lot to be desired yet again post notching his fifty. Not an unconventional stroke-maker by any means, he chanced his arm with an utterly farcical reverse-sweep to lob a dolly to short third man.
Much to DC's respite, Iyer cleared his front leg and winched a couple of sweetly-timed maximums in Jaydev Unadkat's 15th over, the latter even involving an unsuccessful boundary-teasing effort from Ben Stokes. Looking to go downtown, the skipper eventually diced a hoick to long-on off Kartik Tyagi, who really cut the mustard with excellent figures of 4-0-30-1.
The well-set enforces walking back in short order was directly proportional to DC making a meal of the slog overs. That a trivial 32 runs were squirted at the cost of 4 wickets in the last five romps the point home.
The PowerPlay in RR's chase was a gale of high-octane cricketing entertainment at its riveting best. Stokes, elevated to the top, kicked off proceedings in splendid fashion, clipping Kagiso Rabada tastefully to the square leg fence. He then zapped in quest of a non-existent single, only to heave a sigh of relief as Ajinkya Rahane missed the target by a hair's breadth.
Jos Butler welcomed Anrich Nortje into the attack with a meaty blow over long-on before unfurling from his treasure trove a pair of fearless scoops. Albeit the under-fire paceman stuck to his guns, releasing a freakish 155kmph missile to leave Butler's stumps in disarray. Steve Smith fell prey to a soft dismissal off Ravichandran Ashwin, elbowing RR in a spot of bother at 40/2.
All this while, Stokes had proved a thorn in DC's flesh, whacking half a dozen boundaries to go along with lung-burning dashes between the wickets. But the snowball effect gripped him nonetheless, as Tushar Deshpande bagged his maiden IPL scalp, an off-cutter yanked to long-on for 41. And boy what a jackpot that was, a moment that he savoured with a raucous celebratory jig.
Sanju Samson took a particular liking towards Axar Patel, schooling him for two maximums and a four. Yet, the astute left-arm emerged roses in the battle of wits, darting in a slider to castle the right-handed dynamo for 25. Robin Uthappa selling Riyan Parag down the river yielded DC the license to ride roughshod from thereon.
Despite Nortje gobbling a sitter at fine-leg to reprieve Tewatia on naught, DC enjoyed the wood on the match. And Uthappa cops the fair share of the blame for eating up way too many deliveries in a bid to anchor the chase before quitting just when the team needed him to go bonkers, knocked over by Nortje's gun-barrel yorker. Safe to say, his vapid 27-ball 32 did more harm to RR's prospects than good.
25 now sought off the final two, Jofra Archer flashed his rapier-like blade to no avail, with an atrocious splice travelling at a comfortable height to Ajinkya Rahane at backward point. Rahul Tewatia drilled a single off the last ball of the penultimate over to retain strike as the atmosphere rumbled with anticipation galore.
The stand-in captain, Dhawan backed rookie Deshpande whole nine yards and entrusted him with the responsibility to defend 22 off the final over. As if the pressure cooker environs weren't lending enough drama, he strayed to a wide first up to raise plenty of eyebrows.
The next delivery was bang in the slot, as Tewatia packed a punch to hoist it towards long-on but Ajinkya Rahane displayed admirable presence of mind on the rope to parry the ball back in the playing area in the nick of time. Though it was a tough nut to crack that both batsmen got busy in witnessing the heroics on the boundary line and actually forgot to jog an easily available second run, which could've brought Tewatia back in the scheme of things.
Shreyas Gopal did jam a single right away, but Despande passed the test with flying colours regardless, nailing the block-hole to relent a meagre eight, capping off a near-perfect slog-operation from the DC pace cartel.
What's next in store?
Duty calls again for both the franchises on a weekend bonanza. Bottom-dwellers RR have teetered to the edge of the cliff and ought to peel a win by hook or by crook versus Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first of Saturday's double-header.
Ruling the roost, DC have nothing more than a few injury concerns to worry about as they aspire to complete a double against Chennai Super Kings under floodlights.
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