IPL 2019: Match 40, RR vs DC, Review – Rishabh Pant barrages Jaipur with his power hitting as Rahane's ton goes vain

Ajinkya Rahane registered his second IPL century in Match 40 of IPL 2019 against the Delhi Capitals. However, his happiness did not last long. The Royals failed to finish the innings well and that potentially cost them the game. Rishabh Pant played an exceptional knock after quite a while. His risk-taking approach finally paid dividends in this encounter.

The wicket-keeper batsman remained unbeaten on 78 runs as the Capitals won the match by 6 wickets. After ages, a team has finally displaced the Chennai Super Kings from the top position on the points table. The Delhi franchise has now got 14 points and finds an edge over the defending champions courtesy a better net run rate. However, the team has played 11 games thus far against the 10 CSK have played. The Royals are now nearly out of the playoffs race.

Ajinkya Rahane responds to his captaincy sacking in style

The Rajasthan Royals were put into bat first in the match and were struck by misery right in the second over of the match. Sanju Samson, the man in-form, was dismissed for a duck even before he faced a delivery. An ugly mix-up between him and Rahane left him stranded in the middle of the pitch. Kagiso Rabada hit the stumps bullseye to send him back into the pavilion. After that, Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith built one of the classiest partnerships in this edition of the IPL.

There were no massive hits, not many cheeks shots. It was a risk-free, proper cricketing shots that helped them add 130 runs in just 12 overs. Steve Smith was looking good and got to his fifty. But soon after getting to the landmark, he tried to clear the boundary but couldn’t find enough distance. Rahane, though, didn’t throw his wicket away. He continued with his knock and registered his second ton in the IPL. RR was looking set for a score around 220 at one stage.

However, the other batsmen disappointed. While Ben Stokes got out for 8, Ashton Turner registered a hat-trick of golden ducks. Only 41 runs came off the final five overs and the Capitals pulled things back beautifully. The Royals still managed to get to a very good score of 191/6 in 20 overs.

Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan deliver under pressure

The Delhi Capitals were provided with a terrific start by Shikhar Dhawan who continued from where he left off in the previous match. He scored 54 runs out of the 72-run opening partnership and took just 27 balls. His knock at the top of the order set the tone for the rest of the batsmen to carry on. However, both he and skipper Shreyas Iyer were dismissed in short succession putting the team in a bit of pressure.

At this point in time, Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw came up with a timely partnership which was the need of the hour. The right-hander was very cautious with his shots but couldn’t carry on till the end. He scored 42 runs from 39 balls before Shreyas Gopal dismissed him. However, Pant kept going from strength to strength in this innings.

After a long time, the left-hander played a very sensible knock. Shurfane Rutherford, who joined Pant, scored a brief 5-ball 11 which was crucial at that point in time. Rishabh Pant was terrific and had no intentions of taking the game deep and narrowed down the margin by hitting a six off the final ball of the penultimate over from Jofra Archer. He finished the game with a six and remained unbeaten on 78 from just 36 balls.

Brief Scores:

RR: 191/6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 105*, Steve Smith 50, Kagiso Rabada 2/37)

DC: 193/4 in 19.2 overs (Rishabh Pant 78*, Shikhar Dhawan 54, Shreyas Gopal 2/47)

Result: Delhi Capitals won the match by 6 wickets.

Man of the Match: Rishabh Pant

Points Table

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