Johnson Cherian.
They were both desperate for a win to get over their respective season opening disasters. It was finally Rajasthan Royals that came out smiling and with two points from the encounter, winning its first match of the season by 10 runs against Delhi Daredevils in a rain-curtailed, six-over match that was almost washed out.
It started pouring at 9.37 p.m. with Rajasthan on a respectable 153 for the loss of five wickets in 17.5 overs and on course for a probably winning total, and the intensity kept oscillating between a mild drizzle and a heavy downpour, as the covers were brought on and taken off four times through the night.
The match finally resumed at 11.58 p.m., leaving DD with 71 runs to get but the fortress remained unbreached for the host.
DD lost four wickets in its chase, with every batsman throwing his bat at every ball and living dangerously. It wasn’t easy for either side — the wet ball didn’t give much control to the bowlers and the heavy outfield reduced ball travel — but to their credit, the Rajasthan bowlers managed to execute their job much better.
The start was ominous, Colin Munro walking back without facing a ball, run out going for a non-existent single.
Rishabh Pant survived twice despite going too high, but finally fell. Earlier, Gautam Gambhir mixed up his options nicely to ensure there were no major partnerships. Rahane stayed put at one end to piece together the only useful partnership of 62 runs with Samson.
Scoreboard:
Rajasthan Royals: A. Rahane c Morris b Nadeem 45 (40b, 5×4), D’Arcy Short run out 6 (3b, 1×4), B. Stokes c Pant b Boult 16 (12b, 1×4, 1×6), S. Samson b Nadeem 37 (22b, 2×4, 2×6), J. Buttler b Shami 29 (18b, 2×4, 2×6), R. Tripathi (not out) 15 (11b, 1×6), K. Gowtham (not out) 2 (1b); Extras (lb-1, w-2): 3; Total (for five wkts. in 17.5 overs): 153.
Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Short, 1.2 overs), 2-28 (Stokes, 4.1), 3-90 (Samson, 10.6), 4-112 (Rahane, 13.4), 5-150 (Buttler, 17.4).
Delhi Daredevils bowling: Boult 3-0-26-1, Nadeem 4-0-34-2, Morris 3-0-34-0, Shami 3.5-0-29-1, Tewatia 4-0-29-0.
Delhi Daredevils: G. Maxwell c Buttler b Laughlin 17 (12b, 2×4, 1×6), C. Munro run out 0 (0b), R. Pant c Gowtham b Unadkat 20 (14b, 3×4), C. Morris (not out) 17 (7b, 2×4, 1×6), V. Shankar c Stokes b Laughlin 3 (3b), Shreyas (not out) 0 (0b); Extras (lb-2, w-1): 3; Total (for four wkts. in six overs): 60.
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Munro, 0.1), 2-34 (Maxwell, 3.4), 3-46 (Pant, 4.6), 4-50 (Shankar 5.4).
Rajasthan Royals bowling: Gowtham 1-0-10-0, Kulkarni 1-0-4-0, Unadkat 2-0-24-1, Laughlin 2-0-20-2.
Toss: Delhi Daredevils.
Man-of-the-Match: Sanju Samson.
Rajasthan Royals won by 10 runs by DLS method (innings reduced to six overs).
