Images from Wednesday's IPL match between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals, in Dubai.
Flavour of the season Rahul Tewatia didn't prove to be third time lucky in what turned out to be an incredible death overs performance by the Delhi Capitals pace attack in their 13-run victory against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL match, in Dubai, on Wednesday.
Anrich Nortje (2/33) dished out an exhibition of top class fast bowling as he clocked speeds as high as 150 kmph with his toe-crushing yorkers. while Kagiso Rabada's (1/28) international experience proved to be pure gold dust leaving rookie Tushar Deshpande (2/37) to defend 21 runs in his debut IPL game, which he did with elan.
Rajasthan Royals choked when it mattered as they finished on 148/8 chasing Delhi Capitals' 161/7 as Tewatia couldn't get the better of the pacer troika of Rabada, Nortje and Deshpande in the last three overs.
Royals lost the plot in the last five overs partly due to selfish approach from senior player Robin Uthappa (32 off 27 balls), who needlessly ran-out a genuine match-winner Riyan Parag.
While skipper Shreyas Iyer's shoulder injury would keep Capitals on tenterhooks, 12 points from eight games will keep them in good stead as they look to quickly clinch a place in the play-offs.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals, with six points from eight games stay in seventh place and are in danger of missing another play-offs.
While Delhi were splendid in the death overs, it was Ravichandran Ashwin's artistry during the back 10 with clever variations of pace and flight that brought Delhi back in the game. Ashwin finished with figures of 1/17 and bowled 10 dot balls out of his 24 balls -- on par with the ever-improving Nortje.
Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Shreyas Iyer hit stroke-filled half-centuries but Delhi Capitals lost momentum towards the end and were restricted to 161 for 7 against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League match, in Dubai, on Wednesday.
The last five overs of the Delhi Capitals innings yielded only 32 runs and cost them four wickets, an indication how they missed Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer.
Earlier, Delhi’s innings had a disastrous start after they had elected to bat. Prithvi Shaw was out to the first ball of the match by a gem of a delivery from Jofra Archer (3/19). The ball jagged back in after pitching and crashed into the middle stump after getting an inside edge.
To make matters worse for Delhi, Ajinkya Rahane holed out to Robin Uthappa off Archer at mid-on an over later.
However, skipper Iyer (53 off 43) joined hands with Dhawan (57 off 33) and the duo, after initially playing cautiously, opened up to take Delhi forward.
They shared 85 runs for the third wicket off 55 balls to keep the momentum going after the early jolts.
Dhawan looked in great nick from the outset, often finding the boundary with his trademark pulls and shots square off the off-side.
In the process, he scored his 39th fifty in the IPL off just 30 balls, but soon after attaining the feat he departed while trying to force the pace, caught at short third man by Kartik Tyagi off leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal.
His runs, which had six boundaries and two hits over the fence, came off 33 balls.
After Dhawan's dismissal, Iyer took up the onus on himself and upped the ante with some lusty hits. He got to his fifty off 40 balls in the 15th over, bowled by Jaydev Unadkat, that yielded 17 runs, including two sixes.
But soon after, Iyer departed, caught by Archer at long-off off Kartik Tyagi as he went for another big hit.
Marcus Stoinis (18) and Alex Carey (14) tried their best to add muscle to the scoreboard but were unsuccessful.
