Bowlers shine as Capitals beat Royals to get to the top of table

Delhi Capitals’ bowlers fired with the ball to carry their side to a 46-run win over Rajasthan Royals here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday. Shreyas Iyer-led side had scored 184 runs and the Royals fell 47 runs short of the target courtesy of some fine fielding and brilliant catching by Delhi Capitals. 

Chasing 185 runs, Rajasthan Royals got off to a worst possible start as Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed star batsman Jos Buttler in the third over. Skipper Steve Smith then joined Yashasvi Jaiswal and the duo stitched a 41-run stand inside eight overs. However, a brilliant catch in the deep by Shimron Hetmyer ended Smith’s stint at the crease in the ninth over. Smith’s wicket triggered a middle-order collapse as the Royals lost three wickets for 10 runs. Sanju Samson, Mahipal Lomror, and Andrew Tye all went after scoring in a single digit.

 Also, Yashasvi Jaiswal couldn’t capitalise on his slow start and went after scoring 34 runs in 36 balls. The Royals kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were soon found reeling at 121/8. Rahul Tewatia kept fighting hard till the end and smashed timely boundaries to reduce the losing margin. Rabada picked two wickets in the final overs as Delhi Capitals bundled out Royals for 138 runs. 

Earlier after asked to bat first, Delhi Capitals put a total of 184 runs on the board. Delhi Capitals didn’t have a good start as opener Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed by Archer in the second over of the innings. Archer then caught and bowled Prithvi Shaw in the fifth over. The fall of wickets did not stop as Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer (22) was then run out in the sixth over which reduced the team to 50/3. 

Rishabh Pant and Marcus Stoinis were the next batsmen but failed to build a partnership as the former too was run out in the 10th over. Stoinis provided the team with some momentum as the player struck 39 runs before Rahul Tewatia dismissed him. Shimron Hetmyer then started playing with an attacking mindset and smashed regular sixes and boundaries. 

Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 184/8 [Shimron Hetmyer 45 (24), Marcus Stoinis 39 (30), Jofra Archer 3-24, Rahul Tewatia 1-20)] defeated Rajasthan Royals 46 runs [Yashasvi Jaiswal 34(36), Rahul Tewatia 38(29), Marcus Stoinis 2-17, Kagiso Rabada 3-35]