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Rajasthan Royals defeated Delhi Daredevils by three wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match in New Delhi on Sunday.
Battle of nerves: Rajasthan Royals leave Delhi Daredevils heartbroken
Rajasthan Royals opted to field and restricted Delhi Daredevils to 184 for three and then chased down the target in 20 overs at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Royals rode on Hooda’s 25-ball 54 to achieve the target on the last ball of the innings.
Hooda, who hit 3 fours and 4 sixes, then joined Ajinkya Rahane to take the attack to the opposition after hitting Mathews for a six and two fours in 13th over.
On a day that belonged to Deepak Hooda, Delhi Daredevils leg-spinner, Imran Tahir cleaned up danger-man Rahane to literally celebrate an early win but it was not meant to be.
Hooda's and James Faulkner’s (17) wicket in the 19th over by Tahir spelt trouble for the visitors but Mathews could not change Delhi’s fortunes in the last over.
Earlier, Delhi's opening duo departure slowed things down for the home team. Agarwal, after hitting six fours and a six in his 21-ball stay, fell to the guise of leg-spinner Pravin Tambe in a soft caught and bowled dismissal.
Iyer, who smacked three fours and as many sixes in his 30-ball knock, carried on the good work only to see a slower ball from South African medium-pacer Chris Morris take him back to the dug out.
Skipper Jean-Paul Duminy (44 not out) and Yuvraj Singh (27) then stitched a 45-run third wicket stand to give some muscle to the scoreline.
The duo mixed the right dose of caution and aggression to counter a disciplined RR bowling attack.
Yuvraj, who hit 2 sixes in his 17-ball cameo, though was finally done in by another Morris delivery, as the star left-hander mistimed a pull to be caught by Karun Nair at deep backward square-leg.
Duminy was then joined in by Angelo Mathews (27 not out) and the Sri Lankan captain showed his worth right away by hitting two fours and a six off James Faulkner (0-55) in the very next over.
Mathews, who hit three fours and a six in his 14-ball innings, stayed on with Duminy to not only stitch an unbeaten 46-run partnership but also provide the necessary push required in the last five overs.