JAIPUR: Overcoming a wobbly start, Rajasthan Royals notched up a thrilling 12-run win over Delhi Capitals to record their second successive win in this IPL season at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Thursday.
Both their wins have plenty of similarities. In both the matches they batted first and piled up a challenging totals and then defended well with their never-say-die attitude.
While RR managed to carve out a 20-run win over Lucknow Super Giants after amassing 193/4 in 20 overs, against DC they scored 185/5 and then restricted the opponents to 173 for 5. Tristan Stubbs waged a late battle with an unbeaten 44 off 23 balls.
DC got off to a flying start with openers David Warner and Mitchell Marsh dealing in boundaries early in the innings.
After cracking 23 off 12 balls, Marsh was castled by Impact Player Nandre Burger. The lanky left-arm paceman struck again by getting rid of Ricky Bhui to reduce the visitors to 30 for 2 in the fourth over. Bhui was surprised by Burger’s raw pace and only managed to scoop the ball to Sanju Samson.
However, a 67-run stand between Warner and Rishabh Pant kept DC floating even as the asking rate was always climbing. And just when Warner (49: 34 balls) was threatening to take it away from Royals, Sandeep Sharma came up with a sensational diving catch at gully off Avesh Khan to dismiss the Australian.
Pant departed soon after, trying to force the pace as Samson caught him off Yuzvendra Chahal. While Stubbs kept fighting with some lusty hits. it was an uphill task. And with Avesh Khan bowling a spectacular final over, conceding only five runs, Royals finished on top.
Earlier, the success story of
Riyan Parag
continued as he justified his batting promotion with an explosive unbeaten half-century to help Royals post a strong total. Following his 43-run knock against the Lucknow Super Giants in their opening encounter, Parag came up with yet another blazing innings of 84 not out to boost Royals.
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Parag took time to settle down and exploded towards the end of the innings. The youngster displayed clean, powerful hitting and smashed seven fours and half a dozen sixes as he finished the innings in style, taking 25 runs off the final over bowled by Anrich Nortje.
Parag got good support from Ravichandran Ashwin (29 off 19 balls), Dhruv Jurel (20 off 12 balls) and Shimron Hetmyer (14 not out off 7 balls) after the Royals top-order fared miserably.
Parag, who has been an under-achiever for the Royals while batting lower down the order, was given a promotion by the team management this season.
Put in to bat by DC captain Rishabh Pant, the Royals struggled to get going initially, but their batting depth and bowling variety helped them get through.
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