MATCH REPORT
Follow UsBowlers dominating the show in a Wankhede T20 have a special charm for it is down to the quality and how well they adapt themselves. From Jaydev Unadkat to Chris Woakes, from Mustafizur Rahman to Avesh Khan, tonight’s game between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals celebrated them in all might. Yet all it took were 10 balls for Chris Morris to turn the game around to hand Delhi Capitals an inexplicable three-wicket loss.
Rajasthan Royals fielded three left-arm seamers in a game after getting rid of leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal, knowing since IPL 2019, DC openers have lost 10 wickets against left-arm pacers at a balls/dismissal ratio of 18.3 which is the worst among all teams. Jaydev Unadkat vindicated the match-up in some fashion when he landed a slower ball to Prithvi Shaw who slashed that to point to initiate a collapse that no one really saw coming.
The Royals stuck to their plan relentlessly and taking the rather surprising sluggishness of Wankhede pitch into account, they further slowed down their pace. So much so that Delhi were down to 37-4 in the 7th over with Unadkat ending his spell with 4-0-15-3. With nothing going in Delhi’s favour, it needed their marathon man Rishabh Pant to take ownership of the situation.
Pant was really watchful from the start, but clobbered Rahul Tewatia all over the park to milk 20 runs off the single over to find his groove. Even though Pant was only one of the two Delhi batsmen to have scored at more than 100 SR, but during the time he was in the middle, Delhi scored 72 runs in 9.3 overs, with the wicket-keeper batsman adding 51 off 32 balls - a testament to his impact in an otherwise low-scoring game.
His dismissal, effected by a brilliant throw from Riyan Parag, came as a jolt but Lalit Yadav, playing his opening game of the season, did try his best. Although he later shed his aggressor role, his 20 off 24 was crucial in helping Delhi end up with a respectable total of 147 runs on the board.
Chasing 148 at Wankhede would be a cakewalk 9 out of 10 times. Especially, when you know, Buttler was back opening in a T20 game, the feeling of that majestic enterprise couldn’t have been ignored. However, it was payback time for DC bowlers as Chris Woakes, opening the bowling, sent Jos Buttler and Manan Vohra back in no time before Kagiso Rabada’s tactics of going seam-up paid instant dividends. The perfect field placements resulted in catches being gobbled one after another with Delhi reducing the Royals to 42/5 in 10 overs, virtually wrapping the game up there.
Experience of playing in pressure situations was not only a matter of convenience but also a necessity in T20 cricket. David Miller has been there and done that multiple times in the past and he did that all over again by mixing caution with aggression. Hitting five fours in two overs - three against Stoinis in the 14th over and two against Tom Curran in the next over - he made his intentions clear and smashing a couple of sixes against Avesh Khan ensured the game was well within the reach.
It was a roller-coaster in many ways that never for a moment you could be fully certain that the game was going one way. Miller holing out to Lalit Yadav just after hitting two sixes wrested the momentum back in DC’s favour once again, but they had another throne in their way - a big Morris-like question to answer.
After huffing and puffing for a bit, Morris hit Rabada out of the park to take the equation down to 12 off the last over, with Tom Curran, who bowled a compact 18th over, being asked to do the tough job. It is credible and romantic how sport gives a chance to redeem the stories and it was Morris’ time to do it.
The same Morris, who was denied the strike last game by his skipper, came out all the guns blazing to smash a rather bizarre full toss from Tom Curran for a six and helped the Royals open their account in this season’s IPL.