Samson’s brilliance goes in vain as Delhi crush Rajasthan
Rajasthan Royals slumped to defeat against table-toppers Delhi Capitals in the 36th game of the Indian Premier League 2021. Rishabh Pant’s men won by 33 runs.
This was one of the rare occasions when the Capitals failed to make it big with the bat while batting first. But, they worked their way around it with brilliant bowling, restricting the Royals to 121/6.
DC haven’t yet made it to the playoffs despite topping the charts. They have bagged 16 points already. No team in the IPL history has failed to seal a playoff spot with 16 points.
Nortje stands out again
South Africa speedster Anrich Nortje has been phenomenal on his IPL return. Playing only his second IPL game this season, the DC pace spearhead removed in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal early.
The 19-year-old opener’s wicket meant that the pressure mounted on the RR batters. He kept bowling on the right patches to deny the Royals’ batsmen easy runs.
Keeping the pace high and economy tight as he usually does, Nortje finished with impressive figures of 2/18 in four overs. Rahul Tewatia was his second victim in the late overs. It’s daunting how Nortje has been able to utilize the UAE track.
Avesh Khan (1/29) and Kagiso Rabada (1/26) were impressive as well. The duo kept the Rajasthan batting line-up in check, never allowing them to free their arms and score boundaries at will.
Sanju Samson kept bothering them time and again, but his lone innings were not enough to intimidate the DC pace cartel.
Samson – the lone warrior
The Rajasthan skipper seemed like a man on a mission today, but a lack of support did not help his cause. He put up a brilliant knock of 70* not out off 53 balls, including a whopping eight fours and a huge six off Avesh Khan in the second last ball of the game.
This has been a familiar scene. In their first showdown of the campaign, RR lost a close game to Punjab Kings. Sanju Samson scored a century off 54 balls only while none of the other batters stepped up to the occasion.
The run chases seem to be the weakness of the RR side, especially after losing Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes mid-season. For the upcoming games, Rajasthan need their middle orders to rise up more often.
Iyer returns with a bang
Shreyas Iyer bagged the Player of the Match trophy for his composed 43. He read the pitch extremely well and played sensibly to propel the Capitals to a decent total.
He struck two sixes and a four. Iyer is returning after a gruesome shoulder injury that forced him to undergo surgery right away, but his form after the comeback speaks a different story. It seems like he never left the Capitals squad from last season.
In the coming games, Iyer and Pant’s partnerships will be crucial for the Capitals to mount big totals with their lefty-righty combo.
