Picture : Twitter / IPL
Delhi Capitals are having a fine run in this year’s IPL 2020 and they showed this yet again in the match against the Rajasthan Royals in Dubai. In close contest the Capitals fired by their bowlers beat Rajasthan Royals by 13 runs.
Electing to bat after Shreyas Iyer won the toss. The Capitals got of to a disastrous start with with Prithvi Shaw bowled by the sheer pace and movement from Jofra Archer. England’s World Cup winning bowler was brilliant with his spell of high quality fast bowling. He rattled Ajinkaya Rahane with his pace and Rahane in an attempt o break free just holed out to fall cheaply. For the Capitals though, Shikhar Dhawan once again played a vital innings of 57. Skipper Shreyas Iyer in fine form struck 53. Marcus Stoinis (18) and Alex Carey (14) fell cheaply as the capitals struggled to reach 161 / 7 in their twenty overs. Given the Royals batting prowess the total looked tough to defend.
For the Royals in the bowling, Jofra Archer was sensational. He bowled with pace and rattled the batsmen. His figures were outstanding 3/ 19 (4 overs). Jaydev Unadkat 2/32 (3 overs), Kartik Tyagi 1/ 30 (4 overs), Ben Stokes 0/24 ( 2 overs), Shreyas Gopal 1/ 31 ( 4 overs), Rahul Tewatia 0/ 23 ( 3 overs)
In reply the Royals with openers Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes should great intent and played some big shots but unfortunately they did not carry on . Buttler ( 22 ) off 9 balls was bowled by a fiery pace delivery by big South African fast bowler Anrich Nortje who had batsmen on their toes with his toe crushing yorkers. He clocked above 150 Kmph and in- fact bowled a fastest ball in IPL history that of 155.21 Kmph. The 26-year-old eclipsed compatriot Dale Steyn’s effort of 154.40 km per hour set in 2012, clocking 154.74 kph and 155.21 kmph in the game at Dubai before his best effort of 156.22 kph was scooped for a boundary by Rajasthan’s Jos Buttler.
Ben Stokes after a promise fell for (41) . Skipper Steve Smith’s poor run continued. He was foxed by the wily Ravichandran Ashwin caught and bowled for (1) . Sanju Samson ( 25 ) , Robin Uthappa ( 32) , Riyan Parag run-out (1), Rahul Tewatia ( 14) not out ran out of partners towards the end as the Royals finished at 148 / 8 in their twenty overs.
For the Delhi Capitals , Shikhar Dhawan handled his bowlers astutely as regular skipper Shreyas Iyer left the field after hurting his shoulder . The Capitals bowling has been top class so far and this was yet another match that proved it. Spearhead of the attack Kagiso Rabada finished with 1/ 28 ( 4 overs) , Anrich Nortje was brilliant with his pace 2/33 ( 4 overs), youngster on IPL debut seamer Tushar Deshpande was impressive 2/ 37 ( 4 overs).
The spinners too were wily and spot- on Ravichandran Ashwin 1/ 17 ( 4 overs) Axar Patel 1/ 32 ( 4 overs).
Back at No.1 – the @DelhiCapitals #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/PA0hRi1eCD
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 14, 2020
The win took the Delhi capitals to the top of the pints table while the Royals would be hoping that their top guns – Jos Buttler Ben Stokes, Skipper Steve Smith fire quickly to stay in the hunt otherwise it could well be all over for them soon.
