At a glance
- DC beat RR by five wickets to just about keep playoff hopes alive.
- Starc was named Player of the Match for his 4-40.
- RCB beat PBKS earlier in the day to confirm their place in the playoffs.
The Delhi Capitals (barely) stayed alive in the race for this season’s playoffs with their win against the Rajasthan Royals. RR’s playoff hopes, meanwhile, were slightly dented. The defeat keeps the Royals on 12 points from 12 games and in sixth place, level with the Chennai Super Kings.
Captain Riyan Parag’s decision to bring Donovan Ferreira into the attack in the 18th over, with DC needing 35 off 18, backfired. Ferreira went for 16 runs. David Miller and Axar Patel hit a six each to put Delhi in the drivers’ seat with two overs to spare.
An excellent cameo from Ashutosh Sharma then saw DC home in their last home game of the season. Mitchell Starc was named Player of the Match for his four wickets in the first innings.
Rajasthan Royals 193-8 (Jurel 53, Parag 51, Starc 4-40) lost to Delhi Capitals 197-5 (Rahul 56, Porel 51, Archer 2-35) by 5 wickets. View the full scorecard here.
Rahul, Porel score fifties as DC beat RR by 5 wickets
Previously, KL Rahul and Abhishek Porel got Delhi off to an excellent start, racing away to 105-0 in their first 10 overs. Brijesh Sharma then got Porel out for 51, setting off a chain reaction leading to a wicket every other over.
Rahul played Dasun Shanaka on for a well-made 56. But Sahil Parakh, Tristan Stubbs and Miller were all dismissed for single-digit scores as the game became a closer contest than it had any right being.
16 runs from Donovan Ferreira’s 17th over swung the game heavily in DC’s favour, however. Eventually, captain Axar Patel and Ashutosh Sharma ensure Delhi’s victory in the final over without any further hiccups.
Starc among wickets as DC restrict RR to 193
Aussie pacer Mitchell Starc finished with 4-40 in his four overs, keeping RR down to 193-8 in their 20 overs. Madhav Tiwari and Lungi Ngidi were also among the wickets, picking up two each.
After Delhi won the toss and put RR in to bat, Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s aggressive start took the Royals to 75-1 in the powerplay. The 15-year-old’s dismissal (for 46) brought captain Riyan Parag to the crease. Parag scored a quickfire 50 but once he fell, the rest of the team started to fall like dominos.
Dhruv Jurel looked to anchor the innings, scoring 53 off 40 balls. He was then dismissed in the final over of the innings. Quality death bowling from DC restricted the Royals to just 27 runs in their final five overs, leaving the Capitals with 194 runs to win the match.
RCB win by 23 runs, qualify for the playoffs
Earlier in the day, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Punjab Kings by 23 runs and confirmed their spot in the playoffs. Player of the Match Venkatesh Iyer (73) and Virat Kohli (58) scored half-centuries to help RCB get to 222-4 in their 20 overs.
Shashank Singh’s (56) late fireworks went in vain as the RCB bowlers restricted PBKS to 199-8. The Bengaluru pace attack, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-38), rocked Punjab early. PBKS found themselves reeling at 23-3 in four overs. Rasikh Salam’s three wickets and Josh Hazlewood’s tight bowling at the death ensured they kept PBKS at bay.
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