Twitter Reactions: Mishra and Pant show Rajasthan Royals the door of elimination

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) became the third team to be eliminated from this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL). The Ajinkya Rahane-captained team comprehensively lost to the Delhi Capitals (DC) by five wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi. Barring Riyan Parag, the Royals turned up with an awful batting performance and even a strong show from the bowling unit couldn’t save the day for them.

Parag shoulders the Royals

The Royals elected to bat first and it backfired as they could only manage 115 in their 20 overs. Ishant Sharma drew first blood, dismissing Ajinkya Rahane. The lanky speedster castled Liam Livingstone in his second over. Sanju Samson succumbed to a run-out courtesy of a mix-up with Mahipal Lomror. Ishant picked up his third wicket in the form of Lomror and the visitors lost four in the powerplay.

Shreyas Gopal was promoted up the order and he became Amit Mishra’s first victim. On the very next delivery, Mishra accounted for Stuart Binny’s wicket. Trent Boult dropped Krishnappa Gowtham and denied Mishra his fourth IPL hat-trick. At the other end, 17-year-old Riyan Parag played a calm and composed knock of 50 off 49 balls and therefore became the youngest to score an IPL half-century.

Pant takes the Capitals home

The Capitals got off to a quick start as Shikhar Dhawan scored breezy 12-ball 16. The introduction of Ish Sodhi saw the first wicket go down as the leg-spinner removed Dhawan. On the very next delivery, Prithvi Shaw chopped one onto his stumps off Sodhi, who ended up bowling a wicket-maiden. Skipper Shreyas Iyer deposited the spinners into the stands a couple of times before perishing to the leggie Shreyas Gopal.

Colin Ingram had a torrid time in the middle, having scored a 23-ball 12. Sodhi ended his painstaking stint. Thereafter, Rishabh Pant took the bowling by the scruff of its neck and didn’t allow the Royals to get a foothold back into the contest. Gopal dismissed Sherfane Rutherford, but Pant scored 53 runs from 38 balls with two boundaries and five sixes to see his team through to its ninth triumph this season.

Here is how Twitterati reacted to the one-sided affair:

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