Delhi Daredevils’ (DD) young captain Shreyas Iyer and even younger star Rishabh Pant gave enough in the first innings to edge out Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 4 runs by D/L method in the rain affected Indian Premier League (IPL) tie on 2 May in Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla.
A 90-minute delay after RR opted to bowl, reduced the match to 18-over a side. Despite losing Colin Munro for duck in the first over, DD turned around their horrible start as opener Prithvi Shaw and skipper Shreyas Iyer scored 48 runs in the 5-over powerplay.
After Shaw’s 47-run knock ended, Iyer and new orange cap holder Rishabh Pant combined to punish the wayward Royals' bowlers, adding 92 runs for the third wicket in just 7.1 overs.
Iyer hit 50 off 35 balls and Pant hammered RR for 69 off just 29 balls before Jaydev Unadkat (3/46) removed both of them in the 15th over.
Vijay Shankar and Glenn Maxwell fell cheaply, but Delhi had managed a fantastic score of 196/6 before rains interrupted the match yet again in the final over.
Rajasthan had to face a revised target of 151 in 12 overs.
The visitors were very much in the chase, thanks to a stroke-filled 26-ball 67 from opener Jos Buttler.
Purple cap holder Trent Boult pulled back things for the home side with a couple of wickets and a brilliant last over where he defended 15 runs as Delhi rose one spot to the No 7 in the points table.
Buttler began the chase, clobbering the Delhi bowlers mercilessly all over the park to bring up Rajasthan's 50 in just 19 balls in the company of D'Arcy Short (44 off 24), who played the perfect second fiddle to the Englishman.
Buttler meted out special treatment to young pacer Avesh Khan, smashing him thrice over the boundary as he got to his individual 50 off just 18 deliveries as the home crowd began to lose hopes of a win.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, however, brought the smiles back to the fans, who stayed well past midnight braving the heavy rain, by getting Buttler stumped with a top spinner.
Boult then jolted the visitors with the quick wickets of Sanju Samson (3) and Ben Stokes (1) even as Glenn Maxwell ended Short's resistance to reduce Rajasthan to 118/4.
With 33 needed off 14 balls, Krishnappa Gowtham (18 not out) and Rahul Tripathi (9) failed to take the visitors home in what turned out to be a nail-biting affair towards the end.
(With inputs from IANS)
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