Match summary


Young Rishabh Pant cracked a blistering 69 while captain Shreyas Iyer (50) hit his fourth half-century of the season as Delhi Daredevils kept themselves in the race for IPL play-offs with a nervy four-run win over Rajasthan Royals here tonight.


The Royals invited Daredevils to bat but were guilty of feeding the home batsmen with deliveries either too short or too full, making the job easy for the hosts after rain made it a 18-over per side affair.


Rain brought a premature end to the Daredevils innings when the hosts were 196 for six in 17.1 overs and Royals were set a revised target of 151 from 12 overs under Duckworth/Lewis method.


After receiving some battering from Joss Buttler, who thrashed the home bowlers with seven sixes and four fours in his 67-run knock, Daredevils restricted the Royals to 146 for five to notch up the win.






Daredevils have now moved up to sixth from eighth position with this win.


Young Prithvi Shaw (47) was yet again in sublime touch and raised a 73-run stand with his captain for the second wicket after the side lost Colin Munro (0) in the fourth ball of the innings.


After Shaw's dismissal, Iyer and Rishabh Pant combined to punish the wayward Royals' bowlers, adding 92 runs for the third wicket in just 7.1 overs.


Iyer hit his fourth fifty in last five matches as he consumed 35 balls for his 50, hitting three sixes and as many fours.


Pant hammered the Royals bowlers all around the park in his 29-ball knock, studded with seven fours and five sixes.


Jaydev Unadkat (3/46) removed both of them in the 15th over but by then  Daredevils had put up enough runs on the board.


Vijay Shankar (17) came out with some lusty hits to help the hosts get close to 200-run mark.


Royals were off to a fiery start with Buttler going berserk. The England batsman smashed Avesh Khan for three sixes and a four and also punished Liam Plunkett as Royals collected 58 from four Power-play overs.


Buttler completed his fifty off just 18 balls when he lofted Amit Mishra for a six. As many as five bowlers were employed by Daredevils but all of them got severe punishment from Buttler.


It was Mishra who finally gave the breakthrough by having the Briton stumped in the seventh over. The Royals needed a big knock from Ben Stokes (1) but he could not do much.


Opener D'Arcy Short (44 off 25) was also dismissed but K Gowtham somehow kept the Royals in the hunt by striking a six and a four off Plunkett in the 11th over.


Royals needed 15 from the last over but  Trent Boult yet again did the job, conceding only 10 runs.


Earlier, Shaw stroked the ball nicely as he picked the lengths quickly but ended up giving a caught-and-bowled chance on a turning ball to leg-break bowler Shreyas Gopal in the eighth over.


His 47 came off 25 balls as he punished the Royals bowlers with four fours and as many sixes.


After two quiet overs, Shaw began the fireworks as he creamed off 16 runs from Dhawal Kulkarni's over, hitting the paceman for two sixes and a four.


Kulkarni had a difficult chance in his follow through in the last ball of the over but could not hold on to it.


Shaw was in good touch and continued to find boundaries. The next bowler in his firing line was Unadkat, whom he smashed for two fours and a six. 


Iyer joined the party by launching Gopal for two sixes. The first was off a full-length ball and the next was pitched short.


The spinner dismissed Shaw but conceded his fourth six of the innings when new man Pant launched him for a massive six over long-on.


Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes were the only bowlers who had managed to contain the rampaging Delhi batsmen a bit but Pant did not spare the West Indian when he bowled full and found the ball in the stands.


In no time, the two batsmen raised a 50-run stand, taking just 27 balls between them.


Delhi Daredevils batting summary


Young Rishabh Pant cracked a blistering 69 while captain Shreyas Iyer (50) hit his fourth fifty of the season as Delhi Daredevils posted a challenging 196 for six against Rajasthan Royals in a rain-truncated IPL match on Wednesday.


The Royals invited Daredevils to bat but were guilty of feeding the home batsmen deliveries which were either too short or too full, making the job easy for the hosts after rain made it a 18-overs per side affair.


The young Prithvi Shaw (47) was yet again in sublime touch and raised a 73-run stand with his captain for the second wicket after the side lost Colin Munro (0) in the fourth ball of the innings.


After Shaw's dismissal, Iyer and Rishabh Pant combined to punish the wayward Royals' bowlers, adding 92 runs for the third wicket in just 7.1 overs.


Iyer hit his fourth fifty in last five matches as he consumed 35 balls for his 50, hitting three sixes and as many fours.


Pant hammered the Royals bowlers all around the park in his 29-ball knock, studded with seven fours and five sixes.


Jaydev Unadkat (3/46) removed both of them in the 15th over but by then the Daredevils had put up enough runs on the board.


Vijay Shankar (17) came out to hit some lusty hits to help the hosts get close to 200-run mark.  Rain began to lash the ground yet again and brought curtains on the Daredevils innings after 17.1 overs.


Shaw was stroking the ball nicely as he picked the lengths quickly but ended up giving a caught-and-bowled chance on a turning ball to leg-break bowler Shreyas Gopal in the eighth over of the innings.


His 47 came off 25 balls as he punished the Royals bowlers with four fours and as many sixes.


After two quiet overs, Shaw began the fireworks as he creamed off 16 runs from Dhawal Kulkarni's over, hitting the paceman for two sixes and a four.


Kulkarni had a difficult chance in his follow through in the last ball of the over but could not hold on to it.


Shaw was in good touch and continued to find boundaries. The next bowler in his firing line was Unadkat, whom he smashed for two fours and a six. 


Iyer joined the party by launching Gopal for two sixes. The first was off a full-length ball and the next was pitched short.


The spinner dismissed Shaw but conceded his fourth six of the innings when new man Pant launched him for a massive six over long-on.


Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes were the only bowlers who had managed to contain the rampaging Delhi batsmen a bit but Pant did not spare the West Indian when he bowled full and found the ball in the stands.


In no time, the two batsmen raised a 50-run stand, taking just 27 balls between them.


Toss and team news


Rajasthan Royals have won the toss and opted to bowl first against Delhi Daredevils at the Firoz Shah Kotla, Delhi.


Delhi Daredevils Playing XI: Prithvi Shaw, Colin Munro, Shreryas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Glenn Maxwell, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Liam Plunkett, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult.


Delhi Daredevils have gone in with one change. Shahbaz Nadeem comes in for Rahul Tewatia.


Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane(c), Rahul Tripathi, D'Arcy Short, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni


Rajasthan Royals have made two changes in the team. D'Arcy Short and Shreyas Gopal come in place of Ish Sodhi and Mahipal Lomror


Preview


Staring at early exit after their sixth loss in eight games, bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils, under new skipper Shreyas Iyer, will have to treat each IPL game as a virtual knockout, starting with their clash against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.


After Gautam Gambhir stepped down as captain following a string of losses, Iyer was left with the responsibility of guiding the team to the play-offs and the young skipper did score a 40-ball unbeaten 93 to power his side to a massive 55-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders to renew hopes of a turnaround.


But last night's 13-run loss to Chennai Super Kings almost dashed all hopes of a comeback and Iyer has an uphill task of inspiring his team in the remaining matches to salvage any hopes of staying alive in the tournament.


It was an awful mix-up which ended Iyer's innings yesterday and it proved to be the turning point of the match as despite a 45-ball 79 from Rishabh Pant and an unbeaten 31-ball 54 from Vijay Shankar, Delhi fell short by 13 runs against Chennai's 211-4.


Iyer and Pant have done the bulk of the scoring for Delhi, amassing 306 and 257 runs respectively so far and the onus would be on the duo to lead the batting unit.


Among the bowlers, Trent Boult has been among the wickets, claiming 11 scalps so far but he didn't get support from the rest. It has resulted in their failure to defend totals, putting their batting under pressure.


Shankar said they are doing most things right but small mistakes have resulted in losses.


"We, as a team, are doing well but it is the small things which is changing the entire result of the game," he said.


"We were chasing 80 from six overs or something against Chennai, we got close to the target, lost by 13 runs. We tried our best and we would look to move forward from this and look to do better and build ourself into a good team," he said.


Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, are placed fifth in the table with six points from seven matches. Ajinkya Rahane's team has been inconsistent this season as most times a win has been followed by a loss and they will also have to find a way to stem the rot if they have to make it to the play-offs.


Their failure to chase down a target of 151-7 against Sunrisers Hyderabad saw Rajasthan Royals lose the match by 11 runs. It was despite Rahane scoring a 65 and Samson hitting a 40 as they didn't get support from other batsman.


Rahane and Samson have been their best batsmen this season but inconsistent run of Ben Stokes and Jos Butler has affected their performance this season. 


Among the bowlers, young seamer Jofra Archer have done well to claim six wickets in the two matches that he has played so far. But RR's spinners Shreyas Gopal and K Gowtham failed to bother the batsmen much, taking five wickets each.


Teams:


Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer (C), Rishabh Pant, Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala.


 Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh,  Jofra Archer, Stuart Binny, Aryaman Birla, Jos Buttler, Dushmantha Chameera,  Prashant Chopra, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Heinrich Klaasen, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Sudhesan Midhun, Sanju Samson, Jatin Saxena, D'Arcy Short, Ish Sodhi, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Jaydev Unadkat.