For the second match in a row, the fans experienced a thrilling encounter at the Arun Jaitley
Stadium on April 16th. The Delhi Capitals (DC) edged out the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a Super
Over thriller by two wickets. Both teams were locked at 188 runs after their respective 20 overs,
which took the match to the Super Over, the first of this IPL season.
DC Capitalised on Batting
DC won the toss and chose to bat first, posting a competitive total of 188/5. Abhishek Porel
gave the team a steady start, scoring 49 off 37 balls. Unfortunately he got out at 49 , missing out
on his 50. KL Rahul kept the innings steady by scoring 38. However, the innings gained
momentum in the latter stages, thanks to skipper Axar Patel’s explosive 34 off 14 balls and
Tristan Stubbs’ unbeaten 34 off 18 balls. Their inning was greatly helped by Sandeep Sharma’s
bowling, who got hit for 23 runs in one over and in the last over he bowled a 11 ball over which
included four wides and a no-ball, conceding 19 runs.
Rajasthan Royals’ In Pursuit
RR’s pursuit began promisingly, with Yashasvi Jaiswal anchoring the innings with a fluent 51 off
37 balls and Sanju Samson with 31 off 19 balls. However, they faced challenges after Sanju
Samson got retired hurt and Riyan Parag got bowled after scoring just 8 runs. Despite Nitish
Rana’s quick 51 off 28 balls, Dhruv Jurel’s 26 off 17 balls and Shimron Hetmyer 15* off 9,
Mitchell Starc’s brilliant bowling in the 20th over halted the RR, who managed to just about tie
the match, finishing at 188/4.
The Super Over Climax
The excitement built up as the match went into the super over. RR batted first, with Riyan Parag
and Shimron Hetmyer at the crease. Mitchell Starc’s precision bowling once again restricted
them to 11 runs. DC’s chase was spearheaded by KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs. After
accumulating 6 runs off the first four balls, Stubbs sealed the victory with a towering six over
midwicket, ensuring DC crossed the required target comfortably scoring 13/0 in just 0.4 overs.
Many felt that RR had made a critical error by not sending Rana in the super over as he had hit
the fastest fifty for his team early on.
This victory has propelled DC to the top of the points table, and conversely, RR facing their third
defeat in a row, continue to remain in the 8th position.
