Morris Wins a Thriller For Rajasthan as Delhi Are Beaten by 3 Wkts
Rajasthan Royals have beaten Delhi Capitals by 3 wickets on Thursday night in the IPL.
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- Delhi Capitals lost to Rajasthan by 3 wickets
- Delhi Capitals: 147/8 in 20 overs (R Pant 51, T Curran 21, L Yadav 20, J Unadkat 3/15, M Rahman 2/29)
- Rajasthan Royals 150/7 in 19.4 overs (D Miller 62, C Morris 36*, A Khan 3/32, C Woakes 2/22, K Rabada 2/30)
27 runs were needed off the last 12 deliveries but Rajasthan had lost the wicket of the in-form David Miller, on 62, two overs earlier and Delhi looked like it was their match to lose.
However, there was Chris Morris at the crease and after being denied the strike on the last ball of Rajasthan’s previous match, the South African all-rounder ensured his best with the bat was on display as he smashed 4 sixes in the last 2 overs to help get Rajasthan their first victory of the season. Delhi beaten by 3 wickets, with 2 balls to spare after Chris Morris’ 18-ball 36 and a 43-ball 62 from David Miller.
Things had looked difficult for RR as they lost three early wickets, including that of skipper Sanju Samson, and ended the powerplay period at an abysmal 26/3 while chasing DC's 147/8.
In the next over, Kagiso Rabada (2/30) got rid of the centurion from the first match, Samson (4), leaving RR at 17/3. Samson played leaden-footed and gave a catch to Shikhar Dhawan at slips.
Pacer Avesh Khan (3/32) then got rid of Shivam Dube and Riyag Parag in successive overs to leave RR tottering at 425 after 9.2 overs.
However, Miller stitched a 48-run partnership (off 33 balls) with Rahul Tewatia to bring RR back into the match. He took 15 runs off Stoinis' 13th over, hammering the Australian medium-pacer for three boundaries. Soon after though he fell to Avesh Khan. RR needed 44 runs off 32 balls when Miller, after hitting two sixes off Avesh Khan, hit one too many and was caught at long-on.
With 27 needed off two overs, Morris brought the equation down to 21 off 11 balls after hitting Rabada for a six off the first ball of the penultimate over. He hit another six off the fifth ball to narrow the gap.
The South African all-rounder, who was picked for a record Rs 16.25 crore in the auctions, then hammered two sixes off Tom Curran in last over to win the game for RR.
Earlier, left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat took three early wickets to rattle the DC top-order as RR restricted the Delhi franchise to 147/8 in 20 overs.
Unadkat removed Prithvi Shaw (2), Shikhar Dhawan (9) and Ajinkya Rahane (8) to leave DC at 36/3 at the end of the powerplay.
RR's left-arm seamer from Bangladesh, Mustafizur Rahman, then removed Marcus Stoinis (0) in his first over which he bowled immediately after the end of powerplay.
Skipper Rishabh Pant (51 off 32 balls), however, played a timely knock to stem the rot. Pant added 51 for the fifth wicket with debutant Lalit Yadav (20 off 24 balls) as DC moved close to the 100 run-mark.
With Pant at the crease, it looked like DC would get beyond 160. However, two quick wickets put the breaks on the DC innings. Pant was run out off a throw from Riyan Parag as he looked to steal a run, while Yadav fell to Morris to suddenly push DC on the backfoot again.
Tom Curran (21 off 16 balls) and Chris Woakes (15 not out off 11 balls) took DC to their eventual score.
For RR, Unadkat picked up 3/15 from his four overs, while Rahman scalped 2/29 from his four overs.
The bowling efforts paid off as despite the poor start, RR managed to win the game.
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