Published: Apr 11, 2015, 02:48 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 11, 2015, 02:48 PM (IST)
The Delhi Daredevils (DD) will take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the sixth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi. Though it’s a home game for the Daredevils, it is not the only factor to consider in what is expected to be an evenly-matched contest. IPL 2015: Schedule with venue details
In their opening game of the ongoing edition of the IPL, DD came excruciatingly close to sealing a victory against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). On the back of a brilliant performance by Albie Morkel they almost sealed victory in their chase of 151, with the South African pacer scoring only four runs off the last delivery in which they needed six to win. Read: Chennai Super Kings edge Delhi Daredevils by 1 run
With the exception of Morkel, Delhi’s batting put up an abysmal show, which reflects in the fact that nine wickets fell in the chase. Kedar Jadhav was the only other batsman to reach the 20-run mark. However, their bowling attack fared very well. Nathan Coulter-Nile conceded 30 runs in his four overs and bagged three wickets. Dominic Joseph Muthuswamy, Imran Tahir and Amit Mishra also bowled economical spells and chipped in with a wicket each.
The Rajasthan Royals (RR), on the other hand, eased to 26-run victory against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in their opening game thanks to an all-round performance from the team. The Royals had a horrendous top-order performance with openers Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson falling for a duck and five runs respectively. Karun Nair then got out for eight runs. In the top order, only Steven Smith – the stand-in captain – did well scoring 33 runs. Read: Rajasthan Royals defeat Kings XI Punjab by 26 runs
It was the lower middle order that rescued the Royals from a seemingly difficult position of 75 for five. Deepak Hooda smashed an invaluable 30 runs of 15 balls, while James Faulkner scored a more measured 46 of 33 balls to again show his value as an extra-ordinary Twenty20 player. The effort took RR to a total of 162, which was always going to be tough on a green top.
The bowling and fielding for Rajasthan Royals (RR) was outstanding. Tim Southee removed the danger of Virender Sehwag early, without letting him trouble the scorers and though he was a little expensive, went on to take another crucial wicket of Akshar Patel. James Faulkner complimented his batting performance with fine bowling. In his four overs, he conceded 26 runs and picked three wickets. Pravin Tambe again proved difficult to get away, conceding only 15 runs in three overs. Sanju Samson, who failed with the bat, was exceptional behind the stumps and affected the run outs of Murali Vijay (37) and Wriddhiman Saha (7) to turn the tide in RR’s favour. IPL 2015: Points Table and Team Standings
The overall performance was quite good, but they’ll need the top order to perform better. Shane Watson, who sat out with a niggle, Is likely to make his way back in the team and it’s probably Chris Morris who’ll have to sacrifice his place in the side. DD will need a well-rounded performance with the bat to counter the Royals bowling and to give themselves a chance to win. IPL 2015: Complete Coverage
Squads:
Delhi Daredevils(DD): JP Duminy (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Mayank Agarwal, Manoj Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Angelo Mathews, Kedar Jadhav, Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Zaheer Khan, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami, CM Gautam, Gurinder Sandhu, Jayant Yadav, Albie Morkel, Srikar Bharat, Marcus Stoinis, Dominic Joseph Muthuswamy, Shreyas Iyer, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Karapak Jiyas, Travis Head
Rajasthan Royals (RR): Shane Watson (c), Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ankit Nagendra Sharma, Ben Cutting, Deepak Hooda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dishant Yagnik, James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, Karun Nair, Pravin Tambe, Rahul Tewatia, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Samson (wk), Steven Smith, Stuart Binny, Tim Southee, Vikramjeet Malik, Chris Morris, Juan Theron, Barinder Singh Saran, Dinesh Salunkhe, Sagar Trivedi, Pardeep Sahu
(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RDcric on Twitter)
