In the 56th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Delhi Capitals (DC) beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 20 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
RR skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and asked DC to bat first. The home team had a blistering start with the bat with both openers, Jake Fraser-McGurk (50) and Abishek Porel (65) hammering fifties. While Fraser-McGurk scored his half-century in just 19 balls, Porel, however, batted almost till the 13th over and hit three sixes and seven fours. Furthermore, the unit had a rough outing in the middle overs, losing three wickets in the span of four overs. Nevertheless, Tristan Stubbs (41) played a cameo knock, which included three fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 205. Gulbadin Naib (19) and Rasikh Salam (9*) also added valuable runs in the end.
In the chase, Jos Buttler (19) provided positive start but failed to bat long. Skipper Samson (86) continued his fine form and struck a much-needed fifty. The right-handed batter hit eight fours and six sixes and was looking all set to take RR home with two points but unfortunately got out controversially in the 16th over. While Shubham Dubey (25) got few runs, no other batter could manage to answer the hopes of RR fans.
Ravichandran Ashwin obtained three wickets in the first innings. Along with him, one wicket each was also taken by Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal.
While Khaleel Ahmed was brilliant throughout his spell, Mukesh Kumar also did a commendable job in the death overs to keep RR batters away from scoring. Both bowlers also plucked two wickets each and with them, Kuldeep Yadav also took two wickets and gave just 25 runs. Axar Patel and Rasikh Salam also grabbed one wicket each.
Kuldeep Yadav was adjudged Player of the Match for his brilliant bowling show. Following this result, DC have won their sixth match of the season and are now fifth in the points tally.
Scorecard:
Delhi Capitals: 221/8, Overs 20, Abishek Porel 65, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/24
Rajasthan Royals: 201/8, Overs 20, Sanju Samson 86, Kuldeep Yadav 2/25