IPL 2021 Match 7: Mustafiz grabs two wickets as Miller, Morris steer RR to a win in the final over
Rajasthan Royals
|| India Correspondent ||
The 7th match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) of the ongoing Indian Premier League has started with a bang. RR won the toss and opted to field first on a greenish pitch. David Miller replaced Ben Stokes, who has been ruled out with a finger injury and Jaydev Unadkat came in place of Shreyas Gopal. On the other hand, DC handed a debut to all-rounder Lalit Yadav and Kagiso Rabada returned in place of Amit Mishra and Shimron Hetmyer as well.
RR's decision became fruitful in the powerplay as they successfully restricted DC to 36-3. Jaydev Unadkat (3-15), in his fiery spells of three overs, removed Prithvi Shaw (2), Shikhar Dhawan (9) and Ajinkya Rahane (8) in quick succession as well. Alongside this, their fielding was amazing as well with Sanju Samson taking a stunner while diving fully behind the stumps to send Dhawan back in the hut. The situation got worse as Marcus Stoinis (0) was dismissed soon after.
Just when the Royals thought to have the upper hand in the game, Delhi captain Rishabh Pant (51) took the charge and scored a blistering fifty under a pressure situation. However, Riyan Parag's (0-16) stunning direct hit ended his fighting knock as well. Later, cameos from the lower order helped Delhi to put up 147-8 after their allotted 20 overs.
While chasing, the Royals too struggled. Manan Vohra (9), who looked comfortable after a couple of boundaries, got out on the very next ball while playing a rash shot. Then, Jos Buttler (2), who returned to his opening spot, had a rather forgettable outing with Woakes scalping his second wicket of the innings as well.
Meanwhile, Kagiso Rabada got the prized wicket of the in-form Sanju Samson (4) to reduce Rajasthan struggling at 26-3 after the powerplay. The onus fell upon the middle-order who failed to steady the ship and wickets started falling on a regular interval. Soon, Shivam Dube and Riyan Parag too got back in the dugout, leaving RR at 42-5.
However, the experienced David Miller (62) played a stunning knock and brought up a well-deserved half-century, which also included the 2 sixes and 7 fours as well. But his fighting knock came to an end after a simple catch at long-on as well.
Meanwhile, Chris Morris (36) smashed 2 sixes off the penultimate over bowled by Kagiso Rabada to leave the equation to 12 off the final over as well. Morris who didn't get the chance to finish the game against Punjab Kings - smacked two more sixes and helped RR win by 3 wickets.
