Delhi Daredevils won the toss and decided to field first which is the only thing where they were ahead of Rajasthan Royals as the match was a one-sided affair which gave Delhi their sixth defeat in a row and probably the most humiliating one.
Royals went off to good start as Ajinkya Rahane and K Nair did not look in any kind of trouble till the time S Nadeem trapped Nair right infront of the stumps which brought Kevin Cooper to the crease.
Cooper was sent ahead in batting order to knock the leather of the ball and he did exactly that by scoring 32 runs off 16 balls which gave Royals the required momentum to post a big score on the board.
Sanju Samson continued the onslaught by making a quickfire 40 off 25 balls and the Royals were in the driving seat. Rahane meanwhile was playing the sheet anchors role and he ended up scoring 64 runs off 50 balls and held the innings together. Faulkner played a brilliant cameo at the end of the innings by taking the Delhi bowlers to the cleaners. His 23 off 8 balls helped Royals to get past 200 and gave Delhi a target of 202 runs to chase down in 20 overs.
Delhi Daredevils had to get off to a brilliant start if they had to entertain any hopes of getting anywhere close to that target of 202 runs. But it has been downhill for Delhi ever since the tournament started and it was no different here as well. Mayank Agarwal was the first man to get back to the pavilion for Delhi as Faulkner struck on his very first over.
Dinesh Karthik and J P Duminy were the in form players for Delhi but unfortunately they got out before getting their eye in which had already put Delhi in a spot of bother. Kevin Pietersen hung in there for sometime before perishing for 13 as Rajat Bhatia went right through Pietersen’s defence which left Delhi 48/4 and the game virtually over right there.
Manoj Tiwari remained not out for 61 as the Delhi Daredevils succumbed to pressure losing the match by 81 runs which gave them their sixth straight defeat in this year’s IPL. The team seems to be lacking in ambition and does not look like winning anything this year.
It was a very good bowling display by Rajasthan Royals as each and every bowler picked up a wicket and Steven Smith marshaled his troops to perfection in the absence of their regular skipper Shane Watson.
Rajat Bhatia came up with the best figures by picking up 2 wickets and giving away only 18 runs in his 3 overs.
Ajinkya Rahane was declared the Man of the Match for his brilliant half-century as the Royals notched up their seventh win of the tournament giving them a comfortable third spot in the standings. With 3 matches to go Rajasthan Royals look almost certain to qualify for the playoffs.