Kuldeep, Mukesh, openers seal crucial win for Capitals

Sanju Samson’s 46-ball 86 went in vain as Delhi Capitals’ 221 proved to be too much for Rajasthan Royals to chase. Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed shared six wickets between them as DC successfully defended their total after being asked to bat, subjecting RR to their second defeat on the trot.

Jake Fraser McGurk and Abishek  Porel    set up DC’s batting effort as they both hit rapid half-centuries.

Ravichandran  Ashwin, who had come into the game with two wickets in the season, returned a three-wicket haul to slow DC down, but Tristan Stubbs once again provided the hosts with a powerful finish to take them to a total beyond RR’s reach.

Fraser-McGurk walked in to bat with an average of 57.33 and strike rate close to 300 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. To stop him, Trent Boult started from around the wicket to try and keep him quiet. For one over, it worked.

But when Boult returned for his second over, Fraser-McGurk met him with a loft down the ground for six before hitting him for two more fours in a 15-run over. He then tore into Avesh Khan  starting his first over with three consecutive fours and finishing it by going 6, 4, 6 to bring up his half-century off 19 deliveries.

Ashwin struck in the final over of the powerplay when Fraser-McGurk thrashed a low full toss straight to cover. Shai Hope was then run-out at the non-striker’s end as Sandeep Sharma got a hand to deflect Porel’s straight drive on to the stumps.

But Porel did not let DC’s momentum slip, racing to a 28-ball half-century of his own. He took on Riyan Parag and Yuzvendra Chahal to keep the boundaries coming. Even after Axar Patel fell in the tenth over, Porel took 27 runs off the next two overs. But in the 13th, he became Ashwin’s third victim of the night.

When Rishabh Pant fell to Yuzvendra Chahal in the 14th over, DC faced a slowdown as Stubbs began slowly. Between the 14th and 17th overs, DC added just 22 runs with Stubbs on eight off 11 balls. But Stubbs changed it around when he took on Chahal in the spinner’s final over. His assortment of sweeps helped take 16 run off Chahal’s final over.

Gulbadin Naib was out to Boult next over, but Impact Player Rasikh Salam hit two scoops to take DC past the 200 mark. Stubbs then hit back-to-back sixes to start the final over to ensure DC finished beyond 220.

Khaleel Ahmed had Yashasvi Jaiswal miscuing to mid-off in the first over of the chase, but Samson kept motoring on in the powerplay. Khaleel, Ishant Sharma and Mukesh all bore the brunt of Samson’s assault as he raced to 41 off 16. His runs helped RR finish on a strong 67 for 2 after six overs, losing Jos Buttler to Axar in the penultimate ball of the powerplay.

Kuldeep then gave away just 11 runs off his first two overs as Samson and Parag trudged along in a 36-run stand that came off 31 balls. Salam’s slower ball ended the partnership when he castled the in-form Parag for 27.

Samson had made just eight runs off nine balls in the partnership with Parag, and the dismissal appeared to bring out a sense of urgency in the RR captain. A six off a free-hit against Kuldeep that brought up his half-century was followed by two sixes and a four off the next over, bowled by Salam. A 17-run over off Ishant was followed by a wayward one from Khaleel, who bowled four wides in a row.

But with the momentum just shifting towards RR, Mukesh had Samson hole out. Hope took a catch running to his left from long-on and almost tripped himself on to the boundary rope. After the third umpire confirmed that it was indeed out, Samson went to the umpire in protest but had to keep walking.

With RR still ending 60 off 26 balls, Shubham Dubey’s big shots off Khaleel briefly gave them hope, but Kuldeep’s double-wicket 18th over gave a knockout blow.

He first had Donovan Ferreira trapped lbw off a skiddy delivery that was given not-out initially. Then, he tossed up his final ball of the spell wide outside off stump, and Ashwin miscued his slog. He finished with 2 for 25 in four overs, leaving RR needing 37 off the last 12.

Salam and Mukesh closed it out, and DC moved to fifth on the points table with their third home win in a row.

Brief Scores:
Delhi Capitals 221/8 in 20 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 50, Abhishek Porel 65, Tristan Stubbs 41;Trent Boult 1-48, Sandeep Sharma 1-42,  Ravichandran Ashwin 3-24, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-48) beat  Rajasthan Royals 201/8 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 86, Riyan Parag 27, Shubham Dubey 25; Khaleel Ahmed 2-47, Mukesh Kumar 2-30, Axar Patel 1-25, Kuldeep Yadav 2-25, Rasikh Dar Salam 1-36) by 20 runs

(Cricinfo)