NEW DELHI: Delhi Daredevils defeated Rajasthan Royals last night by four runs in a rain-curtailed thriller to register their third win of the 2018 Indian Premier League.
With this victory, Daredevils jumped to sixth in the standings with six points.
Defending 15 off the final over, Trent Boult held his nerves and gave away just ten runs to leave Royals short by five runs in the end. Krishnappa Gowtham hit a four off the penultimate ball, and needed a six in the last ball, he could only manage a single.
Rajasthan suffered their fifth defeat in eight games and fell to seventh in the points table.
Chasing a revised target for 151 runs in 12 overs, Jos Buttler gave Rajasthan a flying start as they reached 50-run mark in just 3.1 overs.
Buttler raced to his fifty in just 18 balls, the fastest by a Royals batsman.
Amit Mishra ended the Buttler blitzkrieg in his next over having him stumped for 67, which included seven sixes and four boundaries.
Then Boult struck twice in the ninth over to put a break on Rajasthan run chase. Boult dismissed Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes cheaply to reduce the visitors to 100 for three in nine overs.
Earlier, young Rishabh Pant cracked a blistering 69 while captain Shreyas Iyer (50) hit his fourth fifty of the season as Delhi posted 196 for six in 17.1 overs when rain stopped play.
Rajasthan invited Delhi 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.
Prithvi Shaw (47 off 25 balls) 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.
Brief scores:
Delhi Daredevils 196 for 6 (Pant 69, Iyer 50) bt Rajasthan Royals 146 for 5 (Buttler 67, Short 44, Boult 2-26) by four runs (DLS method)
TODAY’S MATCH
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings
(Starting 5.30pm Bahrain time)