PHOTOS: Rajasthan thump Delhi, move closer to play-off berth

Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Daredevils by 62 runs in their Indian Premier League match at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera on Thursday.

Rajasthan made best use of the conditions piling up their season's best score of 201 for six. In response, Delhi could manage just 139-9.

- Scorecard 

The champions of the inaugural edition now have 14 points, from 11 games, and have steered clear by four points ahead of their nearest rival Kolkata Knight Riders.

Earlier, Delhi skipper Kevin Pietersen won the toss and surprisingly elected to bowl on what was a good batting track. 

There were three changes in both teams. While Delhi brought in Manoj Tiwary, Ross Taylor and Shahbaz Nadeem in their playing XI, Rajasthan went for Sanju Samson, Dhawal Kulkarni and Ben Cutting, the latter replacing captain Shane Watson (out with a niggle).

Teams:

Rajasthan Royals: Steven Smith (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, Stuart Binny, James Faulkner, Rajat Bhatia, Ben Cutting, Kevon Cooper, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pravin Tambe.

Delhi Daredevils: Kevin Pietersen (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary, JP Duminy, Kedar Jadhav, Ross Taylor, Rahul Shukla, Siddharth Kaul, Shahbaz Nadeem, Imran Tahir.

Put into bat, Rajasthan Royals scored 201 for six.

Put into bat, Ajinkya Rahane (64) once again anchored the innings to perfection.

In-form Karun Nair (19) started positively as he lofted Siddharth Kaul over extra cover for a six and boundary but was out in the last over of Powerplay when he was done in by a Nadeem delivery that dipped in and straightened. He was adjudged leg-before. 

While Rahane punished the loose deliveries, Kevon Cooper's 32 was a short but exciting innings that lasted only 16 balls but yielded three huge sixes and a couple of boundaries before he was holed at the deep extra cover boundary trying to hit Duminy for a second six. 

For Daredevils, Imran Tahir (2-25) stood tall amidst some of the others while Rahul Shukla leaking as many as 44 in four overs.

Shukla also didn't improve from his erratic bowling against the RCB where Yuvraj Singh pounced on him. He did not show any inclination
in using the change-ups and the batsmen used his pace to get boundaries off him repeatedly.

Shahbaz Nadeem picked up a couple of wickets.

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Rahane scored a stylish 64 off 50 balls while Sanju Samson played another flamboyant knock, smashing his way to 40 off only 25 deliveries.

The duo punished the opposition scoring as many as 74 runs in 6.3 overs for the third wicket partnership. 

While Rahane mostly played othodox cricketing shots hitting eight boundaries and a six in the process, Samson indulged in some adventurous strokeplay hitting two fours and three sixes.

James Faulkner's 23 off seven deliveries were also vital in the context of the big total that the 'Blues' put up.

For the record, it was Rajasthan's highest total in this edition.  

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In reply, Daredevils batsmen never had the technique to win a match on a pitch that got slower with each passing over as they managed only 139 for nine to slump to their ninth defeat including sixth consecutive loss at home.

Mayank Agarwal (17) was done in by a slower from James Faulkner as stand-in captain Steve Smith grabbed an easy catch at mid-off. Dinesh Karthik (3), who was bought for a whopping 12.5 crore again flattered to deceive as he mistimed a pull off a slow bouncer from Dhawal Kulkarni to be caught by Ben Cutting at fine leg boundary. 

JP Duminy (8) hit Tambe for a six but the 'Grand Old Man' of IPL had his revenge with a googly which Duminy played into the hands of Karun Nair standing at point.

Kevin Pietersen's (13) agony increased as the pitch got slower and Rajat Bhatia eventually shattered his stumps. 

Manoj Tiwary (61 not out) made a decent contribution but by the time he came in to bat the damage had already been done.