Delhi bounce back in style

De Villiers smashes 79 to power Daredevils to 14-run victory

Electing to bat, Delhi rattled up a challenging 150 for three, largely due to de Villiers’ unbeaten 55-ball 79 and then restricted Rajasthan to 136 for nine to notch up their ninth win from 12 matches.

Amit Mishra returned with figures of 3 for 33 from his four overs while Abhishek Salvi and Farveez Maharoof chipped in with two wickets apiece.

Delhi, who have already made it to the semifinals, are sitting pretty at the top of IPL table with 18 points to their kitty, while Rajasthan, with 13 points from as many matches, are on the fifth spot. Rajasthan will have to win their last match against Kolkata Knight Riders on May 20 in Durban and wait for the results of other matches to see whether they make it to the semifinals or not.

Chasing 151, Rajasthan began on a disastrous note with both their openers Graeme Smith (0) and Rob Quiney (6) back to the pavillion by the third over with just eighth runs on the board and from then onwards they struggled to score.

Naman Ojha struggled to find the gap before departing for a 17-ball nine, caught by Delhi captain Virender Sehwag off Salvi in the seventh over to leave his side at 26 for three. Johan Botha (37) and Ravindra Jadeja (24), though, kept Rajasthan in the hunt for a while with a 55-run stand for the fourth wicket but once Jadeja was out in the 13th over the writing was on the wall.

Scoreboard 

Delhi Daredevils: Gambhir c& b Patel 8; Sehwag lbw Patel 2; AB de Villiers (not out) 79; Dilshan b Botha 33; D Karthik (not out) 23. Extras (LB-1, W-1, NB-3) 5. Total (For 3 wickets in 20 overs) 150.
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-15, 3-102.
Bowling: M Patel 4-0-39-2, A Singh 3-0-23-0, S Trivedi 1-0-9-0, J Botha 4-0-23-1, S Warne 4-0-28-0, R Jadeja 2-0-13-0, A Raut 1-0-10-0, Y Pathan 1-0-4-0.
Rajasthan Royals: Quiney c Nannes b Nehra 6; Smith c Salvi b Nannes 0; Ojha c Sehwag b Salvi 9; Botha c Sehwag b Maharoof 37; Jadeja c Karthik b Salvi 24; Pathan c Karthik b Maharoof 1; Raut b Mishra 11; Warne st Karthik b Mishra 6; Amit Singh st Karthik b Mishra 0; Trivedi (not out) 6; Patel (not out) 23. Extras (LB-6, W-5, NB-2) 13. Total (For 9 wickets in 20 overs) 136.
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-8, 3-24, 4-79, 5-82, 6-98, 7-99, 8-99, 9/107. Bowling: Nehra 3-0-8-1, Nannes 4-0-33-1, Salvi 4-0-19-2, Maharoof 4-0-27-2, Mishra 4-0-33-3, Dilshan 1-0-10-0.