Home teams nine out of nine
We leave you with a teaser from our final report. Thanks for joining us tonight. You know where to find us tomorrow.
On a night that their big three batters managed 31 off 35 between them, Rajasthan Royals overcame a big conditions handicap through what many feel is the coming of age of Riyan Parag. When the ball seamed and swung, accounting for Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler, Parag played watchfully but turned 16 off 20 into a match-winning 84 off 45. Despite the Parag assault, Delhi Capitals would have felt confident they could chase down 186 what with the dew and less seam movement on offer, but Nandre Burger, the Impact Player, made early dents with the ball, Yuzvendra Chahal picked wickets, and Avesh Khan and Sandeep Sharma closed out superbly with yorkers and wide lines.
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Home comforts
9 Number of consecutive matches won by home teams this IPL, the longest such streak for any stage of any IPL.
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Avesh, Sandeep close it out
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Avesh Khan and Sandeep Sharma did have 40 runs to play with in the last three overs, but there mjust have been sweaty palms in the RR dugout when Tristan Stubbs hit a six and a four off the first two balls of the 18th over. However, Sandeep Sharma and Avesh Khan executed their yorkers and wide lines superbly to deny DC, winning by 12 runs and stretching the streak for home sides to nine wins out of nine matches.
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Stubbs keeps DC alive
A superb carrom ball in the 17th over has Tristan Stubbs mis-hitting to deep midwicket. That is the game right there for RR, but Trent Boult drops him. Stubbs then goes on to rub salt into the wound by hitting successive sixes off R Ashwin. DC now need 41 off the last three. There is Axar Patel with Stubbs. The game is in the balance again.
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Chahal removes Pant
Not that Rishabh Pant has got his T20 rhythm back but he is still a big wicket because if he stays there till the end, he can hurt RR. Yuzvendra Chahal, though, doesn't allow him that chance. A slow slider across Pant, and he nicks it through even through he does delay the shot. It's 105 for 4 at the start of the 14th. RR firm favourites now.
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Avesh gets Warner
David Warner looked in excellent touch and seemed to have the chase under control when Avesh Khan tried to slide one wide of him. Robin Uthappa on Jio made a good point about how Warner has not quite been getting closer to the line of the ball in order to give himself room but it can have drawbacks too. A sit turned out he ended up needing a ladder to reach a full ball well outside off, and all he managed was an edge to short third. Gone for 49 off 34. DC need 89 off 52 balls with seven wickets in hand.
RR's win probability has gone from two in three such matches to three in four.
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Second-half Sandeep
Sandeep Sharma, the second-most prolific bowler in the IPL powerplays, has found himself performing a new role with Rajasthan Royals. With Trent Boult and others asked to take new-ball wickets, there is only one role for Sandeep to fulfil: bowl at the back end. Sandeep has a difficult job once again: bowl four overs out of the last 10 with possible dew around. DC need 97 in the last 10 with eight wickets in hand.
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Burger gets stuck in
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RR did all they could do to avoid having to send Rovman Powell in to bat. They even sent R Ashwin in early, it also possibly translated to Riyan Parag delaying his assault. All of this to make sure they use that Impact Player substitution on Nandre Burger and not on a batter.
Now we know why. The odds are stacked against RR, the ball is not doing as much as it did for the DC quicks, and DC haver raced away to 30 for 0 in three overs. And then Burger strikes two times in the fourth over to turn the game around.
Mitch Marsh is the first, bowled by a 146k inswinger. Ricky Bhui then narrowly survived an lbw call but couldn't keep a nasty bouncer immediately after. DC 34 for 2 in four overs.
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Why DC were wrong with their outrage
Over the first two overs, we have seen a pretty disgruntled DC coach Ricky Ponting chatting animatedly with the fourth umpire and making gestures that didn't look polite at all. I mean it is only a conjecture whether he was respectful or not, but it didn't look good.
Now the controversy was that someone in DC thought they had caught RR with five overseas players on the field, which should not be allowed. That is because Rovman Powell has come on to field as a substitute fielder, which he feels should not be allowed because he becomes the fifth overseas player on the field at some point or the other.
Let's first see the playing condition that covers this kind of situation.
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A team may not have more than 4 Overseas players on the field of play at any time during any Match. Thus, if the team names the maximum 4 Overseas players in its starting XI, an Overseas player may only take the field as a substitute fielder if the player that he is replacing is an Overseas player. If the team names less than 4 Overseas players in its starting XI, Overseas players may only enter the field of play as substitute fielders to the extent that by doing so, they do not take the total number of overseas players representing that team on the field to more than 4.
Powell on the field did make it five overseas players representing RR on the night: Buttler, Hetmeyer (subbed out), Boult, Burger (subbed in) and Powell (a fielding substitute). Now if you read the playing condition closely, DC have got it all wrong. It clearly says "fielders representing that team on the field" not how many have represented them at various points on the night. So RR are well within their rights to have Powell substitute as a fielder for anyone because they had only three other overseas players on the field.
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Boult doesn't get a first-over wicket
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David Warner seems extra vigilant and aware that Trent Boult has to be denied early. He plays the over out watchfully, not giving Boult a sighter with ann attacking shot.
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Parag gets his pride of place
2 Number of batters, before this IPL, who had scored 1000-plus runs at No.4 at a strike-rate of 140-plus and an average of 40-plus.
One of those men is Suryakumar Yadav. The other though, hardly ever got to bat at No. 4 in the IPL. Riyan Parag is now getting to bat at No. 4 and might just be showing why he carries those numbers in T20s.
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Parag finishes off in style
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Riyan Parag scored just 16 off the first 20 balls he faced, but since then he took off to resurrect a fledgling RR innings. He ends with 84 off 45, which means 68 off the last 25 balls he faced. The piece de resistance was the last over against Anrinch Nortje, in which he took the pace and took 25 runs. RR now have 185 to defend after Parag's personal best in T20s.
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Parag's fortunes have turned
93 Number of runs Riyan Parag, who now has a fifty with a six over mid-off, has scored in two matches this IPL. That is already well past what he managed in the whole of the last IPL
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Parag opens up
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After a subdued start and a slow middle, Riyan Parag has now started to target bowling and has fiund fluency. He has ruined Khaleel's analysis to an extent, and now is now 40 off 30. Still RR are just 108 for 4 after 15, and need a big finishing kick.
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Ashwin falls, but is his job done?
The only RR batter to have tried to hit a six forget hitting one on the night, R Ashwin has fallen trying to hit a fourth. The big boundaries of Jaipur at play here as he looks to slog Axar Patel. He is gone for 29 off 19, at 90 for 4 with 6.2 overs left.
Interestingly, RR have delayed the entry of Shimron Hetmyer even further, sending out Dhruv Jurel before him. Two right-hand batters, both young Indians, one of them struggling to reach run a ball. Really interesting from RR.
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Pinch anchor now pinches DC
RR's use of R Ashwin the batter has always created conversation. Some feel he is a pinch anchor who is sent in to provide the bigger hitters the ideal point of entry. Some feel he is sent in to hit as a low-cost wicket. Ashwin, though, just goes out and bats and does what the team needs in that particular situation. Here, he made a slow start, scoring five off the first six balls he faced, and then suddenly pulled out the intent.
Ashwin first charged at Kuldeep Yadav for a six, and then showed his superior game awareness as he hung back deep in the crease for Anrich Nortke and pulled his natural length for two sixes. If Ashwin can bat this quickly and also give Shimron Hetmyer the ideal point of entry, he might save RR a batting substitute and give them an extra bowler in the second innings.
RR 73 for 3 in 11, having gone past six an over for the first time. Ashwin 25 off 12, Riyan Parag 13 off 17.
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Deep review System
Rohit Sharma, his Test captain, might have ended up providing some meme material when he turned down a DRS request from Kuldeep Sharam the fielder, but as a bowler Kuldeep has been superb with the use of the DRS. Here he has beaten Jos Buttler on the reverse-sweep, and has single-handedly changed his captain's mind to draw a review from him. Replays confirm Kuldeep has got Buttler plumb lbw.
RR 38 for 3 in seven overs, and have now sent out their pinch anchor: R Ashwin.
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DC win the powerplay
The ball has seamed and swung for both Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar. If there is dew later in the night, this is a huge advantage for DC. Both Khaleel and Mukesh used the conditions well with the new ball. After Mukesh got Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson batted watchfully. DC, though, kept at it, and brought Khaleel back for a third over inside the powerplay. It brought about the wicket of Samson for a run-a-ball 15. RR are 31 for 2 in six overs, and DC have three Anrich Nortje overs left. RR need to do something miraculous to overcome this toss disadvantage.
Rishabh Pant meanwhile has been quick to go to spin from both ends after the powerplay because he wants to bowl them when the conditions are still dry.
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Jaiswal falls early
A couple of balls after Yashasvi Jaiswal walked at his recent Test team-mate, Mukesh Kumar, and drove him for a four, Mukesh comes back with what is an unplayable ball given the intent T20 players bat with. This has seamed in appreciably immediately after one seamed away. Jaiswal has no time for niceties, he tries a big hit, and misses the ball completely. Last year's second-quickest opening stand has been broken early. RR 9 for 1 in two overs.
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Home comforts
8 Number of matches, out of 8 so far, won by the home side. Let game 9 begin
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On the Rishabh Pant trail
Our correspondent Shashank Kishore is in Jaipur for this match. And he is keeping a close eye on Rishabh Pant making this miraculous comeback ahead of the schedule the doctors game him. Here is a dispatch from Kishore.
For the first time in a while, I'd think, Rishabh Pant has experienced absolute normalcy. Both at training and on the field. Two days ago, at training, Jake Frazer-McGurk and Pant had a six-hitting contest in the middle, oblivious to what anyone was doing besides them. There was a competitive streak to it as well, each guessing how much to measure the other's hit and then trying to out-do that. And they'd challenge the other with imaginary fields. They were at it until someone actually realised they were quickly running out of old balls. Pant appeared chatty and relaxed. That session was only a few hours after the entire team was bathed in the afterglow of their Holi celebration. Outside of training, Pant has spent considerable time chatting with the younger players and the newcomers. Even today, as soon as he got to the ground, Pant quickly got the group together into a huddle, and spoke at length. He then oversaw a quick bowling session, just to see how Mukesh Kumar was going. Mukesh had a 'niggle' that forced him to miss the opening game. After that, he did some keeping drills for 10 minutes and walked off to gear up for toss. Nice & easy.
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Nortje is back, DC bowl
Pace is in. In his 100th IPL match, Rishabh Pant has won the toss and decided to field first. Both the captains wanted to bowl first when there is no dew or less dew. In Jaipur, this is also the time when you can take advantage of a slow pitch.
Great news that Anrich Nortje is back. It might have been an interesting choice in terms of whom to leave out but Shai Hope's back spasms made it an easy call for them.
Bad news that Ishant Sharma, who didn't finish his spell last match, is still not match fit. Mukesh Kumar comes in for him. It might seem odd that they have replaced a batter and a bowler with two bowlers, but that is because they are bowling first. Surely they will bring in a batter in the second innings of the game.
RR have not made a change at all. Theirs is the beautiful balance where they start with just three overseas players and then make a change based on the requirement at that point. Most likely they will bring in Nadre Burger for the second innings.
Rajasthan Royals YBK Jaiswal, JC Buttler, SV Samson*†, R Parag, SO Hetmyer, DC Jurel, R Ashwin, TA Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, YS Chahal
Delhi Capitals MR Marsh, DA Warner, RK Bhui, RR Pant*†, T Stubbs, AR Patel, Sumit Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, A Nortje, KK Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar
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Match 9, IPL 2024, RR vs DC
Welcome to the ninth match of the IPL. It is Rajasthan Royals hosting Delhi Capitals. R Ashwin going up against his old team. Anrich Nortje coming back hopefully. Eyes on Prithvi Shaw. Eyes also on the RR Impact Player strategy where they start with three overseas players and then bring in Andre Burger or an overseas batter based on the situation. A lot to watch out for. Welcome.
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