Rishabh Pant blasted an unbeaten 53 from 38 balls with five sixes and a couple of fours to lead the Delhi Capitals to a comprehensive five-wicket victory in their final IPL league match against the Rajasthan Royals at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi on Saturday afternoon.
Full ScorecardHaving restricted the Royals to just 115 for nine, the men from Delhi needed to complete the run chase within 10.1 overs in order to overtake Chennai Super Kings at the top of the table on net run rate – and they attempted to do it which looked like the only reason they lost wickets.
As things stand, Delhi will still finish second if the Mumbai Indians fail to win their final match on Sunday.
.@RishabPant777 finishes the game with his 5?th six to get to a #VIVOIPL fifty and give @DelhiCapitals a 5 wicket win over #RR ??#DCvRR pic.twitter.com/yrvf4sNt7B
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 4, 2019
Seventeen-year-old Riyan Parag put the rest of the Rajasthan Royals batsmen to shame with an innings of 50 after they chose to bat first with fast bowler Ishant Sharma (3-38) and legspinner Amit Mishra (3-17) tearing through the visitors line-up with barely a backward glance.
Only Englishman Liam Livingstone (14) and Shreyas Gopal (12) reached double figures behind the composed Parag who faced 49 balls and hit four fours and two sixes in the final over against Trent Boult.
Kiwi Boult was impressive, however, claiming the wicket of fellow New Zealander Ish Sodhi while conceding just 12 runs from his first three overs before finishing with 2-27.
Shikhar Dhawan (16) tried to hit Sodhi into the next State and captain Shreyas Iyer was also caught in the deep having hit two sixes in his 15 from nine balls.
Colin Ingram (12 from 23 balls) put an end to the near-impossible run-rate equation and decided to concentrate on achieving the victory.
It was a fine comeback for Delhi who were thrashed by 80-runs in their previous game against Chennai and then lost the tournament’s leading wicket taker in Kagiso Rabada who has returned to South Africa with a back injury.
DELHI CAPITALS: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Rishabh Pant, Colin Ingram, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Sanju Samson, Liam Livingstone, Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Riyan Parag, Stuart Binny, Mahipal Lomror, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Ish Sodhi, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas