As it happened: Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals, IPL 2022

with two sixes in the four balls he played, Rishabh Pant has taken DC to a win with 11 balls to spare. That is it from the Live Report for tonight. We leave you with this teaser from the main report.

"Delhi Capitals stayed in the mid-table muddle with an important win over Rajasthan Royals that took them to 12 points, two behind the third- and fourth-placed RR and RCB. On a sticky pitch they managed to keep RR down to a par score of 160. Mitchell Marsh, who also took two wickets, led the chase with 89 off 62, letting David Warner play the anchor role on a night he spent most of his innings around a run a ball.

In the innings break, Marsh said it was a difficult pitch to hit boundaries on if the bowlers bowled into the pitch and used the longer boundary. He said it would need a lot of running ones and twos, but still managed to hit score 62 of his runs in boundaries, seven of them sixes.

If DC could set up for a traditional base for the chase, RR had to be more funky: they used R Ashwin as pinch anchor, who did score his maiden fifty, but their big hitters Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag couldn’t follow it up with a finishing kick."

Looking for his eighth six, Mitch Marsh top-edges a slog-sweep off Yuzvendra Chahal, falling 11 short of a hundred. To go with his two-for. DC need just 17 off 17.

Marsh and Warner take 15 runs off Ashwin's last over, making it 4-0-32-2. That is exactly what DC now need in the last four: 32 runs. With nine wickets in hand, they are 93% favourites to win this one.

He has perhaps the best intel on this pitch having bowled three overs on it and taken two wickets. He bowled into the wicket and used the longer sides, and perhaps knows how best to avoid it. Straight sixes is one way to do that. He is now 66 off 48 having hit four sixes and five fours. At 98 for 1 in 13 overs, DC are 77% favourites to win.

Rajasthan Royals hold back Yuzvendra Chahal till the ninth over, and there is action aplenty when he comes on. David Warner pulls him for a six, then slices a loft down the ground that falls just short of Jos Buttler running in from long-off, and the last ball of the over, a legbreak, shaves the leg stump, lights the wicket, but fails to dislodge any bail. DC 67 for 1 in nine overs, and it is getting ominous for RR.

In the innings break, Mitchell marsh said this was not an easy pitch to hit boundaries on. That there is a lot of running to be done here. He is 24 off 23, and David Warner 11 off 1. The powerplay is done at 37 for 1. DC slight favourites at this point according to our Forecaster.

Trent Boult takes a wicket second ball as KS Bharat edges a short ball, and Prasidh Krishna backs it up with a maiden over with the ball swinging for him. Amid all this David Warner has faced only two balls in two overs. At 1 for 1, DC are 37% favourites to win.

Underwhelming end to the RR innings as DC kept picking those wickets and in the end RR were left with Rassie van der Dussen and Trent Boult for the last two overs. That is just what they wanted to avoid when they decided to send R Ashwin up but it just so happened that Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag got out to the second boundary attempt they made. Van der Dussen ends up with 12 off 10. So 161 to get for DC. Mitch Marsh says they thought at around the 16th over if they can keep them down to 160 it will be a good effort. Sounds like a par total from the sounds of the Marsh interview. Warner will be big again.

Well Kamlesh Nagarkoti is not playing but he is substituting for Kuldeep Yadav and has taken a superb diving catch running in from deep cover to send back Devdutt Padikkal. And now is the time RR might have run out of steam in the last two. Rassie van der Dussen has a big job to do.

DC keep producing the wickets this time with a back-of-the-hand slower ball from Chetan Sakariya. Parag is gone for 9 off 5. RR are still in it, though. They are 146 for 5 in 18. Devdutt Padikkal is 48 off 29, and can still propel them to a competitive total.

Anrich Nortje comes back in the death overs, and immediately takes the wicket of Sanju Samson. Hard length and good bounce means Samson ends up getting too much under it. Gone for six off four. It's 125 for 4 in 16.1. Projected score 163. And we have a slip for Riyan Parag in the 17th over.

On two occasions he might have looked stuck, but on both occasions R Ashwin has found a way back. First with a six and a four off Axar Patel, and then with a six off Kuldeep Yadav and a ramped four off Chetan Sakariya. It has taken him to a maiden fifty in the IPL, off 37 balls. That is a job well done when sent in as pinch anchor. And just after that he is out. Now Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag and Rassie van der Dussen have six overs.

A switch-hit six and a straight six in consecutive balls, and RR innings is moving now. They are 97 for 2 in 13. Padikkal 27 off 12.

In the sidelines interview, DC coach Ricky Ponting has told Star Sports that Khaleel Ahmed missed this game because of a hamstring issue. More curiously he said, "Prithvi's also been ruled out." We only hope he didn't mean Shaw has been ruled out for the whole IPL.

After that wicket, R Ashwin has mellowed down his intent possibly because you don't want two new batters at the wicket. As a result he is 32 off 27 now. It is 72 for 2 in 11. This partnership is going at a run a ball. Ashwin will need to go. Possibly even retire out.

This is not ideal. When Ashwin is going after every ball, Yashaswi Jaiswal could have perhaps done without backing away early and then hooking Mitch Marsh into the long side. He is gone for a run-a-ball 19. How does this chance the way Ashwin approaches it now? RR 54 for 2 in 8.1. Projected score 157.

Just like pinch hitters, pinch anchors have the optimum shelf life after which they become detrimental to their own team. When does Ashwin feel he can start hitting out to every ball because his job is done? In the eighth over, he jumps out at Kuldeep Yadav and tries a slog sweep too. He is 26 off 19, and I think, his job might have been done. We will see if him take a lot of risks now: he wants to either score fast or get out. RR 54 for 1 in eight overs.

At 10 off 10, it might have seemed the R Ashwin move is not really working because even if you are a "pinch anchor", you need to bat at a certain pace and that pace can't be a run a ball in the powerplay. Then Ashwin unleashes a four and a six off Axar Patel in the final over of the powerplay. It takes them to 43 for 1, a return they will take after the early dismissal of Buttler.

In what is not a surprise anymore, RR have promoted R Ashwin to No. 3. Not quite a pinch hitter but someone to see off the new ball without much damage. A more dispensable wicket. Shores up a short batting line-up in which Ashwin is the seventh-best batter.

You put together such an over against Jos Buttler, and you always stand a chance. The bowler is Chetan Sakariya, the over is the third. Add on top of it that you bowled the first over without a boundary. Sakariya has been accurate and has been shaping the ball either way. In the end, Buttler hits the first full ball straight to mid-on. RR 11 for 1 in 2.5 overs.

It is incredible bad luck for Rajasthan Royals. Sanju Samson has won just the one toss so far, and he not adding to it tonight. Rishabh Pant has decided to chase because he expects dew on a cooler overcast evening.

Delhi Capitals have made two changes: Lalit Yadav in for Ripal Patel and Chetan Sakariya in for Khaleel Ahmed. That means Prithvi Shaw is still not well. Royals have a forced change: Rassie van der Dussen in for Shimron Hetmyer, who has gone home for the birth of his child.

Delhi Capitals 1 David Warner, 2 KS Bharat, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt. & wk), 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Lalit Yadav, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Chetan Sakariya

Rajasthan Royals 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt. & wk), 4 Devdutt Padikkal, 5 Riyan Parag, 6 Rassie van der Dussen, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Trent Boult, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Kuldeep Sen