Match 43 Rajasthan Royals Vs Delhi Daredevils
at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
Having lost the previous outing by a single run, Rajasthan
Royals had to win this match not only as a revenge act but also to stay in the
contention for the top 4 spots. They appeared
exited having joined by Shane Watson, a proven all-rounder in IPL.
Royals won the toss and had no hesitation in opting to bat first. Their decision was justified by the manner in
which the openers Dravid and Rahane started their innings. Rahane, in particular, was very
aggressive. He got out for 42 runs off
32 deliveries, which included 7 hits to the fence. When he got out the score was 71/1 in the 9th
over. Watson got out for 8 runs and disappointed the fans. Owais Shah, Brad Hodge and Menaria played
without any responsibility and got out for single digit scores. Credit should also be given to Delhi
Daredevils bowler Pawan Negi who bowled brilliantly capturing 4/18 off 4 overs,
that too when the Royals batsmen were going great guns. Dravid fell for 57 off 43 balls, after
fighting it out all alone. Rajasthan
Royals ended at a paltry score of 141/6 that too against a formidable batting
side like Delhi. Poor batting from the
Royals middle order was the reason behind their failure to reach a score of around
170, which would have been competitive.
Delhi lost their opener Mahela Jayawardene for a duck, making it
third duck of the day by an opener,
Parthiv Patel of Deccan Chargers and Manish Pandey of Pune Warriors
being the other two openers who have suffered similar humiliation. Sehwag and Pietersen however continued to
attack the Rajasthan Royals bowlers in their usual style. Pietersen fell after making 36 off 34
balls. Ross Taylor failed again making
just 6 runs. Sehwag got out making 73
off 38 balls. But the match was almost
over by that time. Delhi Daredevils won
by 6 wickets with 4.4 overs remaining.
At this point of time, three teams viz. Pune Warriors, Rajasthan
Royals and CSK seem to loose vital matches and get behind in the race. CSK are ahead by one point thanks to the
crucial point they shared with RCB in the rain affected match. Delhi Daredevils and KKR appear to be all set
to sit pretty at the top 2 spots. Race
is still on for the next two spots with RCB and Mumbai appearing to be the
strong contenders for those spots.
Mathematically anything can still happen. Rajasthan, Pune, CSK and Punjab can still
make it if they win the remaining matches.
But it seems to be an uphill task for them.
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