Rajasthan lose despite Fizz’s brilliance
Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant guided his side through a frustrating game to hammer Rajasthan Royals by 33 runs and take the lead in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
Earlier, Bangladesh's ace pacer Mustafizur Rahman picked up a couple of vital wickets, that of Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer, and gave away only 22 runs in his four overs, while remaining boundary-less as well.
Mustafizur broke Delhi's 62-run partnership in the 12th over, when Rishabh Pant who tried to hook away Fizz's bouncer but ended up getting bowled from an under-edge.
The 26-year-old followed it up with another breakthrough, picking up the wicket of in-form Hetmyer and in the process, breaking Delhi's stand of 31-run. Hetmeyer edged the ball and gave away an easy catch to Chetan Sakaria, who grabbed the ball at the short third.
Pant hit 24 and Shreyas Iyer 43 as Delhi made 154 for six in their 20 overs. The batsman wicketkeeper then claimed two catches and a stumping to leave Rajasthan struggling on 17 for three in their chase.
Despite a stubborn unbeaten 70 from captain Sanju Samson, Rajasthan could only reach 121 for six in their innings.
It was only the third time that Delhi have defended a total of 154 or less to win in the IPL -- all three have been against Rajasthan.
But the victory pulled them two points ahead of Chennai Super Kings at the top of the eight-team league. They are not yet officially into the playoffs but no team has failed to qualify with 16 points.
David Miller lasted 10 balls before he was stumped by Pant off Ravichandran Ashwin having made seven.
Sansom hit eight fours and a big six in the final over but never found a partner to keep Rajasthan in contention.
"I thought the total was chaseable but we lost too many wickets and weren't able to get any momentum," said Sansom, who added that changes could be made for the next game with his side still in the race for the playoffs.
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