Ajinkya Rahane continued his fine run of form and struck a well-controlled unbeaten 63 to lead Rising Pune Supergiants to a much-needed seven-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils on Thursday.
Earlier, Supergiants bowlers did a good job, especially in the middle overs, to restrict the in-form Delhi Daredevils to 162 for seven after inviting the hosts to bat.
Brief Scores:
Delhi Daredevils: 162 for seven in 20 overs (JP Duminy 34, Karun Nair 32; Rajat Bhatia 2/22).
Rising Pune Supergiants: 166 for three in 19.1 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 63 not out; Imran Tahir 2/26).
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After first innings:
Delhi Daredevils: 162 for seven in 20 overs (JP Duminy 34, Karun Nair 32; Rajat Bhatia 2/22).
DD 144/7 after 18 overs (P. Negi 3* | M. Shami 0*)
R. Ashwin to continue. Another run out! This time, it's Jayant Yadav. Superb over this -- only six off this and RPS is well into this match now. They'll look to restrict DD to 150 now.
DD 138/6 after 17 overs (C. Brathwaite 20 off 8 | JP Duminy 34 off 32)
Scott Boland to bowl the 17th. Brathwaite's smashed it flat over the bowlers head and it's got enough power to go over the ropes! That's come off his willow at some pace -- no elevation on tha, just distance. And Boland's got his man this time. Brathwaite mistimes a short one, and Perera just about manages to hold on to that one near the ropes. And Duminy's run out off the last ball -- he takes on Rahane's arms and is caught short of the crease. Two big wickets in this over.
DD 130/4 after 16 overs (C. Brathwaite 14 off 5 | JP Duminy 32 off 29)
M. Ashwin's floated a nice loopy ball and Brathwaite's hit it to the moon -- wow, that's gone at least a 100m! And, another six but this time, off a full toss. Big, big over, this -- the run rate's gone over 8 now.
DD 112/4 after 15 overs (C. Brathwaite 0 | JP Duminy 24 off 27)
Six overs to go -- can DD get to 160 or close to it? Dhoni's go to man, Rajat Bhatia's into the attack. Billings tries to innovate, goes for a reverse..err. slog and but gets caught at long on. He was threatening to take the game away from RPS here -- good wicket, this. Carlos Brathwaite's the next man in.
DD 107/3 after 14 overs (S Billings 24 off 14 | JP Duminy 23 off 23)
What in the... Billings has this really interesting shot where he goes as though for a sweep and then drags the ball from the off-side straight by chopping his arms downwards rather than sideways. What a straight four . M Ashwin comes back with some googlies that land well.
DD 101/3 after 13 overs (S Billings 19 off 10 | JP Duminy 22 off 21)
Ashwin isn't bowling with the best control, bowling wide to both batsmen. Billings now lifts Ashwin off his knees and into the Midwicket boundary for six . And again, this time stretching for it like a sweep-shot and almost slice it up and over Long-off for another six .
DD 83/3 after 12 overs (S Billings 5 off 6 | JP Duminy 19 off 19)
Bhatia bowls so slowly and floatily that he strays down the leg-side very easily. And so slowly that Billings decides to reverse-sweep him after the ball leaves his hand. Not much success with the sweeps though. Just 6 off that over.
DD 77/3 after 11 overs (S Billings 2 off 2 | JP Duminy 17 off 17)
The boundaries have dried up. But the batsmen are running well, converting a lot of twos, especially this over by Murugan Ashwin. 8 runs without boundaries is a good haul, I'd say.
DD 69/3 after 10 overs (S Billings 2 off 1 | JP Duminy 10 off 12)
My! What a catch Perera has pulled off running along the boundary at Deep Cover. Nair (32 from 22) has to go after he slashes a slow and wide ball inside-out, but can't clear the ropes. Bhatia is a bit too energised and pushes the next ball down the leg-side, but Duminy chases it and the Supergiants go up in appeal for caught-behind or stumped or just to distract the umpire from the wide ball. Not out, and wide ball, it is.
Sam Billings comes in, the energy bunny of the Daredevils.
DD 63/2 after 9 overs (K Nair 31 off 20 | JP Duminy 8 off 10)
Woah. Ashwin got some turn that over. Purchase off the wicket is a great way to sell your overs to the captain. Will he remain in the attack because he's getting purchase or will he be reserved for the death because he is bowling well? Dilemmas, conundrums.
DD 59/2 after 8 overs (K Nair 29 off 18 | JP Duminy 6 off 6)
Another over full of singles — except one fielded brilliantly by Ashwin — this time by Rajat Bhatia. The run-rate has fallen since the Powerplay, and Delhi will be wary of their tendency to let the middle overs go a-begging.
DD 54/2 after 7 overs (K Nair 27 off 15 | JP Duminy 3 off 3)
R Ashwin was played comfortably that over by Duminy and Nair, who took a single off every ball. Real Princes-Charming, what?
DD 48/2 after 6 overs (K Nair 24 off 12 | JP Duminy 0 off 0)
Nair showing he has a range of shots, even the kind that are half-serendipitous — is a fine glance deliberate or an edge if it goes right past the 'keeper for four ? But Boland comes back strongly, and Samson (20 from 17) is now gone in the most anticlimactic way, chipping one that stopped on him into Midwicket's hands.
DD 40/1 after 5 overs (K Nair 19 off 9 | S Samson 17 off 17)
Immaculate timing on that one by Nair again, as he threads a length ball through the Covers for four . Woof, what elegance. This guy is gifted, for sure. Samson, though, is being troubled as Dinda angles the ball into his body. Oops, Dinda forgets to wipe the sweat off his fingers and the last ball goes flying off towards Nair's ribs and the batsman flays the no-ball through Fine-leg for four . The next ball is a free-hit, but Nair now has oil in his palms and the bat — not the ball — flies off into the night sky.
DD 27/1 after 4 overs (K Nair 9 off 4 | S Samson 15 off 12)
Karun Nair had a lot of time on his hands as he smacked Scott Boland for two fours — one caressed through the Covers, and the other whipped through the on-side.
DD 17/1 after 3 overs (K Nair 4 off 2 | S Samson 10 off 8)
Dinda is getting some subtle out-swing. Forcing Samson to play carefully. The line doesn't work for left-hander Pant, and one goes down his leg-side. Next ball, Dinda uproots Pant's (2 from 8) middle-stump with a straight, full delivery at pace.
DD 11/0 after 2 overs (R Pant 2 off 6 | S Samson 9 off 5)
Perera now. The second delivery has width, and Samson flails at it off the front foot and the ball hurtles away for a four through Third-man. Perera overcorrects, strays onto the pads and now Samson pushes it through to the Midwicket boundary for another four . A beautiful pair of wrists, Samson has, when he plays on the on-side.
DD 2/0 after 1 over (R Pant 2 off 6 | S Samson 0 off 0)
Dinda fast developing into a bowler who can bowl an excellent 1st over. Couple of years he'll do a good job with the 2nd too. >#IPL9>#DDvRPS
— Suneer (@suneerchowdhary) >May 5, 2016
Dinda steams in, his headband giving him a very very low forehead for a human being. Bowling straight and with pace. The third ball sits up in the air, but doesn't carry back to the bowler on his follow-through. Just 2 runs off that opening over.
1957 hrs | Delhi has been able to rest a couple of their key men. Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson are walking out to open the innings for Delhi. Quinton de Kock has been rested. How these Dilliwalein luxuriate in their good form.
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Rising Pune Supergiants wins the toss and elects to field first . Apparently, Dhoni is done with trying to defend totals.
Rising Pune Supergiants will have George Bailey and Usman Khawaja coming into the team as injury dogs the Supergiants:
AM Rahane, SS Tiwary, UT Khawaja, GJ Bailey, MS Dhoni*†, NLTC Perera, R Bhatia, SM Boland, R Ashwin, AB Dinda, M Ashwin
Pawan Negi, Carlos Brathwaite, Jayant Yadav and Imran Tahir come in for Delhi Daredevils :
SW Billings†, RR Pant, SV Samson, KK Nair, JP Duminy*, P Negi, CR Brathwaite, J Yadav, A Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Imran Tahir
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Going into this match, Delhi Daredevils’s win-loss record of 5-2 is the best so far in this year’s Indian Premier League. Rising Pune Supergiants’ 2-6 is the worst. >Read the preview .
Delhi Daredevils Squad
Z Khan*, MA Agarwal, KK Ahmed, SW Billings, CR Brathwaite, NM Coulter-Nile, Q de Kock, JP Duminy, AA Herwadkar, Imran Tahir, SS Iyer, MK Lomror, CV Milind, A Mishra, Mohammed Shami, CH Morris, S Nadeem, KK Nair, P Negi, RR Pant, Pratyush Singh, SV Samson, P Suyal, J Yadav
Rising Pune Supergiants Squad
MS Dhoni*, Ankit Sharma, B Aparajith, M Ashwin, R Ashwin, GJ Bailey, AK Bains, R Bhatia, SM Boland, DL Chahar, AB Dinda, PSP Handscomb, Jaskaran Singh, UT Khawaja, JA Morkel, IC Pandey, IK Pathan, NLTC Perera, AM Rahane, I Sharma, RP Singh, SS Tiwary, A Zampa
