Samson, Jurel ace the chase as Royals pull six points clear
The trend of gargantuan totals — in the Indian Premier League in general and at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in particular — continued. So did that of Delhi Capitals winning at home.
Riding on Jake FraserMcGurk’s pyrotechnics up front and Tristan Stubbs’ strong nish, DC posted 257 for four against Mumbai Indians. Despite the MI power-hitters clearing the boundary frequently, the Capitals pace trio of Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, and Rasikh Salam picked up wickets at regular intervals to control the proceedings.
As a result, despite the visiting team nishing just 10 runs behind the total, the game never slipped out of DC’s grasp.
With Prithvi Shaw failing a tness test just before the toss, Fraser-McGurk found a new opening partner in Abishek Porel.
The Australian smashed the MI bowlers all over the park as 89 came o the ve overs, 78 of them from his willow. His boundary-hitting ability was on display as he cleared the fence with power and panache.
That 80 o his 84 runs came o boundaries underlined his dominance. The best of his 17 boundary hits was the swing over long-on o a slower one to welcome Jasprit Bumrah into the attack.
With Bumrah being unable to strike up front, the MI attack struggled to peg DC back.
In the death overs, Stubbs took on IPL rookies Luke Wood and Nuwan Thushara to push the Capitals
past the 250-run mark.
The MI top-order had no option but to go for it from the rst ball.
Once DC dismissed the top three batters in the PowerPlay, MI was always playing catch-up.
Khaleel struck twice, getting the big sh Rohit Sharma (top-edge to mido ) and Suryakumar Yadav (caught at cover).
Mukesh’s clever change of pace induced an error from Ishan Kishan.
Captain Hardik, Tilak Varma and Tim David continued the battle but had too much to catch up after the initial damage.
Rasikh’s variation in pace worked wonders as Capitals rose to fth in the points table.
DELHI CAPITALS
Jake Fraser-McGurk c Nabi b Chawla 84 (27b, 11x4, 6x6), Abishek Porel c Kishan b Nabi 36 (27b, 3x4, 1x6), Shai Hope c Tilak b Wood 41 (17b, 5x6), Rishabh Pant c Rohit b Bumrah 29 (19b, 2x4, 2x6), Tristan Stubbs (not out) 48 (25b, 6x4, 2x6), Axar Patel (not out) 11 (6b, 1x6); Extras (lb-1, nb-1, w-6): 8; Total (for four wkts. in 20 overs): 257.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-114 (Fraser-McGurk, 7.3 overs), 2-127 (Porel, 9.4), 3-180 (Hope, 13.4), 4-235 (Pant, 18.1).
MUMBAI INDIANS BOWLING Wood 4-0-68-1, Bumrah 4-0-35-1, Thushara 4-0-56-0, Chawla 4-0-36-1, Hardik 2-0-41-0, Nabi 2-0-20-1.
MUMBAI INDIANS
Ishan Kishan c Axar b Mukesh 20 (14b, 4x4), Rohit Sharma c Hope b Khaleel 8 (8b, 1x4), Suryakumar Yadav (Impact Player in place of Thushara) c Williams b Khaleel 26 (13b, 3x4, 2x6), Tilak Varma run out 63 (32b, 4x4, 4x6), Hardik Pandya c Mukesh b Rasikh 46 (24b, 4x4, 3x6), Nehal Wadhera c Rishabh b Rasikh 4 (2b, 1x4), Tim David lbw b Mukesh 37 (17b, 2x4, 3x6), Mohammad Nabi c Hope b Rasikh 7 (4b, 1x6), Piyush Chawla c Hope b Mukesh 10 (4b, 1x4, 1x6), Luke Wood (not out) 9 (3b, 1x6); Extras (b-2, lb-2, nb-1, w-12): 17; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 247.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-35 (Rohit, 3.1), 2-45 (Kishan, 4.1), 3-65 (Suryakumar, 5.6), 4-136 (Hardik, 12.3), 5-140 (Wadhera, 12.5), 6-210 (David, 17.4), 7-223 (Nabi, 18.3), 8-234 (Tilak, 19.1), 9-247 (Chawla, 19.6).
CAPITALS BOWLING Williams 3-0-34-0, Khaleel 4-0-45-2, Mukesh 4-0-59-3, Kuldeep 3-0-47-0, Axar 2-0-24-0, Rasikh (Impact Player in place of Kushagra) 4-0-34-3.
Toss: MI; PoM: Fraser-McGurk. Capitals won by 10 runs.
Sanju Samson (71 n.o., 33b, 7x4, 4x6) and Dhruv Jurel (52 n.o., 34b, 5x4, 2x6) scripted Rajasthan Royals’ umpteenth turn of the plot this Indian Premier League, and took the table topper to a seven-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium here on Saturday.
Joining forces at 78 for three, in a chase of 197, their unbeaten 121-run fourth-wicket association put the Royals on the brink of playos qualication.
Jurel enjoyed the rub o the green when he was put down twice by Yash Thakur in Mohsin Khan’s over. The fate of the contest was all but sealed when Samson pocketed two maximums in Mohsin’s next.
At the outset, Yashasvi Jaiswal laid down the marker with some lofted shots o Matt Henry on either side of the sight-screen. While Jos Buttler was slow o the blocks, a ramp shot o Henry in the fourth over got him going.
Though the visitors wiped o 60 runs in the PowerPlay, its openers falling in the space of three deliveries forced a recalibration. Riyan Parag, however, could not resist the tempting ¢ight of Amit Mishra and miscued his heave to deep cover in the ninth over, after which Jurel and Samson took over.
In the rst essay, K.L Rahul (76, 48b, 8x4, 2x6) staved o early hiccups and heralded another recovery job in the company of Deepak Hooda (50, 31b, 7x4).
Rahul and Hooda combined for 115 runs for the third wicket after Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma’s new ball exploits plundered the Lucknow top order. Rahul ¢exed his
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS Quinton de Kock b Boult 8 (3b, 2x4), K.L. Rahul c Boult b Avesh 76 (48b, 8x4, 2x6), Marcus Stoinis b Sandeep 0 (4b), Deepak Hooda c Powell b Ashwin 50 (31b, 7x4), Nicholas Pooran c Boult b Sandeep 11 (11b, 1x4), Ayush Badoni (not out) 18 (13b, 1x4), Krunal Pandya (not out) 15 (11b, 1x4); Extras (lb-2, nb-1, w-15): 18; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs): 196.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-8 (de Kock, 0.3 overs), 2-11 (Stoinis, 1.6), 3-126 (Hooda, 12.1), 4-150 (Pooran, 15.1), 5-173 (Rahul, 17.2).
ROYALS BOWLING
Boult 4-0-41-1, Sandeep 4-0-31-2, Avesh 4-0-42-1, Ashwin 4-0-39-1, Chahal 4-0-41-0.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS Yashasvi Jaiswal c Bishnoi b Stoinis 24 (18b, 3x4, 1x6), Jos Buttler b Yash Thakur 34 (18b, 4x4, 1x6), Sanju Samson (not out)
mobility when he fashioned a slog sweep and breached the fence despite losing balance and falling down o R. Ashwin.
Hooda ¢aunted his deft o-side range, punching Boult through covers and backward point o identical lengths. It took a carrom ball from Ashwin to 71 (33b, 7x4, 4x6), Riyan Parag (Impact Player in place of Chahal) c Badoni b Mishra 14 (11b, 1x6), Dhruv Jurel (not out) 52 (34b, 5x4, 2x6); Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-2): 4; Total (for three wkts. in 19 overs): 199.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-60 (Buttler, 5.5), 2-60 (Jaiswal, 6.1), 3-78 (Parag, 8.4).
SUPER GIANTS BOWLING Henry 3-0-32-0, Mohsin 4-0-52-0, Yash Thakur 4-0-50-1, Stoinis 1-0-3-1, Krunal 4-0-24-0, Amit Mishra (Impact Player in place of de Kock) 2-0-20-1, Bishnoi 1-0-16-0.
Toss: RR; PoM: Samson.
Royals won by seven wickets with six balls to spare. fox Hooda who holed out at long on.
A nal ¢ourish was on the cards when Ayush Badoni fancied his chances and switch hit Ashwin for four. But a bouncer from Avesh that led Rahul to pick the elder at third man left LSG wanting for more.