Delhi Daredevils defeats Rajasthan Royals, stays on top

BRILLIANT EFFORT: Delhi Daredevils’ Virender Sehwag takes a fine catch to dismiss Naman Ojha of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL match in Bloemfontein on Sunday.

Bloemfontein: Delhi Daredevils comfortably defeated Rajasthan Royals by 14 runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match at the OUTsurance Oval on Sunday.

A.B. de Villiers’s 55-ball unbeaten 79 steered Delhi to a score of 150 for three before Rajasthan made 136 for nine after its 20 overs. Rajasthan is now in the fifth place after 13 matches.

De Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan staged a recovery for Delhi after Rajasthan’s opening bowler Munaf Patel prolonged Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir’s troubled run.

Munaf’s brilliant catch off his own bowling sent Gambhir back with the score at 12 for one. Sehwag fell leg-before to one that was short and stayed low.

Thereafter, Delhi focussed on keeping wickets intact even if runs didn’t come along as expected. But that was until Munaf ruined his earlier efforts with a disastrous 19th over, conceding 25 runs.

He bowled a no-ball to de Villiers, who despatched the half-volley straight for six. Munaf experimented with a slower delivery for the free-hit. De Villiers pulled him for a boundary. Two boundaries later, Dinesh Karthik pulled him for a six over mid-wicket.

Combining well

Before that match-defining over, de Villiers and Dilshan had combined well for a responsible 87-run partnership for the third-wicket. Rajasthan had a forgettable day in the field, dropping two catches and failing to effect a run-out towards the end.

Rajasthan skipper Shane Warne and Johan Botha utilised the conditions effectively, but de Villiers and Dilshan were prepared to counter them with singles and twos, an approach that ensured runs came at the end.

Bad start

In reply, Rajasthan had a bad start when Graeme Smith upper cut to Aavishkar Salvi off Dirk Nannes in the second over. In the next over, Rob Quiney pulled Ashish Nehra to Nannes at deep fine-leg.

The defending champion was in further trouble when Naman Ojha found Virender Sehwag at extra cover. Ravindra Jadeja’s promising 24 came to an end after Salvi extracted bounce to force the batsman into an outside edge to wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik.

Karthik was in the scheme of things again when Yusuf Pathan sent the ball to short third man.

Munaf managed three boundaries in the final over, but the task was beyond his reach.

SCOREBOARD

 Delhi Daredevils: G. Gambhir c & b Munaf 8 (8b 1x4), V. Sehwag lbw b Munaf 2 (8b), A.B. de Villiers (not out) 79 (55b, 8x4, 1x6), T. Dilshan b Botha 33 (41b, 1x4), D. Karthik (not out) 23 (11b, 1x4, 1x6), Extras (lb-1, w-1, nb-3): 5; Total (for three wkts. in 20 overs): 150.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-15, 3-102.

Rajasthan Royals bowling: Munaf 4-0-39-2, Amit Singh 3-0-23-0, Trivedi 1-0-9-0, Botha 4-0-23-1, Warne 4-0-28-0, Jadeja 2-0-13-0, Raut 1-0-10-0, Y. Pathan 1-0-4-0.

Rajasthan Royals: R. Quiney c Nannes b Nehra 6 (10b, 1x4), G. Smith c Salvi b Nannes 0 (4b), N. Ojha c Sehwag b Salvi 9 (17b, 1x4), J. Botha c Sehwag b Maharoof 37 (37b, 3x4), R. Jadeja c Karthik b Salvi 24 (18b 3x4), Y. Pathan c Karthik b Maharoof 1 (5b), A. Raut b Mishra 11 (13b), S. Warne st. Karthik b Mishra 6 (3b, 1x6), Amit Singh st. Karthik b Mishra 0 (1b), S. Trivedi (not out) 6 (10b), Munaf (not out) 23 (10b 5 x 4), Extras (lb-6, w-5, nb-2): 13; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 136.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-8, 3-24, 4-79, 5-82, 6-98, 7-99, 8-99, 9-107.

Delhi Daredevils bowling: Nehra 3-0-8-1, Nannes 4-0-33-1, Salvi 4-0-19-2, Maharoof 4-0-27-2, Mishra 4-0-33-3, Dilshan 1-0-10-0.