Rajasthan’s regal performance puts it on top

Rahane and Karun profit from some ordinary Daredevils fielding to help Royals post a match-winning total.

May 04, 2015 03:27 am | Updated November 16, 2021 05:07 pm IST - Mumbai:

ROLLICKING:Rajasthan Royals' prolific opener Ajinkya Rahane played with panache to take the Daredevils' attack to the cleaners on Sunday. Photo: Vivek Bendre

ROLLICKING:Rajasthan Royals' prolific opener Ajinkya Rahane played with panache to take the Daredevils' attack to the cleaners on Sunday. Photo: Vivek Bendre

Ajinkya Rahane played orthodox shots in a gung-ho style and anchored Rajasthan Royals with a match-winning unbeaten 91 in a crucial Pepsi-IPL-8 match against Delhi Daredevils at the Brabroune Stadium here on Sunday.

Left with an uphill task to chase a target of 190, Daredevils, mustered all its resources with its captain Jean-Paul Duminy showing grit and intent; but in the end his team fell short by 14 runs to suffer a fifth loss in nine matches.

Royals regained its top position with 14 points from 11 matches and would have heaved a sigh of relief following a sequence of negative outcomes in the previous five matches.

Local-boy Rahane showed sterling qualities of an opener, rocked at the famous venue, and played the big part.

The right-hander has been in good nick right through the league and firmed up his position on top of the Orange Cap leaderboard. On a day when the Royal Blues, put into bat by the visitor, hoped for a turnaround in fortunes, Rahane made a distinguished presence and his substantial contribution was the centrepiece of the Royals’ high total of 189. 

Big stand

Karun Nair, promoted to No. 3, cut loose against the four-pronged seam attack and the lone spinner (Amit Mishra), as the Royals’ second wicket pair lifted the team total with a stand of 113 runs off 69 balls.

Both Rahane and Karun rode their luck and made Daredevils pay heavily for fielding lapses by debutant Gurinder Sandhu, Saurabh Tiwary, and Mishra and Zaheer Khan when the Royals score was 77 and 130 (Rahane) and 106 (Nair).

 Rajasthan, which had a rollicking start of 43 in the power-play, moved steadily to 104 at the conclusion of the 14th over with leg spinner Mishra being targeted in the tenth over and seamer Mathews in the 13th over.

Rahane’s pull off Nathan Coulter-Nile that sailed over the square leg fence set off some spectacular hitting, with Karun taking the lead and making life miserable for fast bowler Sandhu. The tall Australian conceded 41 runs in his quota of four overs.

Wilting

Coulter-Nile, the other Australian in the Daredevils ranks and who has had good outings so far, wilted as a bowler and fielder.  Leading the pace attack, left arm seamer Zaheer Khan seemed to have got into his groove in his first two overs, but the Royals’ in-form openers Rahane and Watson sent him to the pickets three times in his third straight over.

Mathews had checked the run rate, conceding three in his opening over and six in his second, but Rahane and Karun did not waste an opportunity to hit out against Mishra for 10 runs and 16 in his second and fourth overs.

Good finish by Royals

The Royals’ strategy to retain wickets eventually helped it to profit in the last six overs, as Rahane, Karun and Faulkner together added 85 runs.

The Brabourne pitch had grass cover but the rectangle helped the batsmen to make authentic strokes.

After a bright start that saw Royals lose its first wicket at 52, the second wicket pair more than doubled it and it turned out to be the match-winning partnership.

The Royals’ decision to send in Karun at the fall of the first wicket proved to be a hit. 

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