IPL 2018: 3 masterstrokes - RR vs DD

After a two year hiatus, Rajasthan Royals got a chance to play again at their fortress Jaipur. They have the best win percentage at home among the IPL teams and they looked a tough team to beat with Buttler, Stokes, Short in their lineup.

On the other hand, Delhi Daredevils were looking to register their 1st victory of the tournament after a miserable loss to Punjab. The return of Glenn Maxwell provided some much-needed confidence to the Daredevils.

On a greenish pitch, DD opted to bowl continuing the trend of chasing. It was a nightmare start for the Royals as D’Arcy Short got run out yet again. Stokes came and played a few cracking shots before getting out to Boult. Rahane and Samson chipped in with some usual contributions and a cameo from Buttler propelled RR to 153-5 in 17.5 overs when rain interrupted the play.

By DLS, the target for DD was reduced to 71 from 6 overs and it looked possible with Maxwell, Munro, Pant, Morris in their lineup. But some good captaincy and world-class death overs bowling saw RR win by 10 runs

Here are the three masterstrokes from the captains of DD and RR which had a huge impact on the outcome of the game.

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#1 Giving Boult his third over

Trent Boult, one of the best new ball bowlers going around proved his mettle yet again as he troubled Rahane with his trademark inswingers in the 1st over.

In his very first ball of the next over, he almost removed Stokes with a beautiful delivery that straightened after pitching on a good length outside the off stump. But Stokes soon got the better of him with a cracking pull shot.

While many captains would have saved Boult’s last two overs, Gambhir surprised us yet again by asking Boult to bowl the 5th over and giving him a slip catcher even though stokes was attacking the bowlers. His bold decision paid rich dividends as stokes fell to another unplayable outswinger which bounced from a good length. This was test cricket style new ball bowling by Boult and he reaped rewards for it.

#2 Trusting Nadeem against Samson

Shahbaz Nadeem came into the attack on the 2nd over of the match. He consistently bowled in the good length area not giving the batsman any room and mixed the drifters with some arm balls and conceded only 8. But in the 8th over of the match, Samson immediately put some pressure on him by depositing a half tracker into the stands and neatly guiding the next ball to a boundary. Nadeem conceded 15 off that over and it looked his quota for the evening was over.

But, Gambhir had other plans and he persisted with Nadeem. Nadeem bowled beautifully as he flighted the ball tempting the batsman to go after him. Samson lost his patience and gifted away his wicket by going for a slog sweep and dragging the ball on to his stumps.

Yet again Gambhir’s ultra-aggressive mindset resulted in a wicket and provided some much-needed impetus to the Delhi Daredevils.

#3 Saving Ben Laughlin for the death overs

It is always tough for the bowlers to defend a target when the overs are very less since all the opposition batsmen will look to get going from ball one.

In such a crunch situation, Rahane proved his captaincy credentials by saving the Australian speedster Ben Laughlin for the last two overs.

It was a brilliant move as Laughlin never let Pant predict the deliveries by mixing the slower balls with some fast yorkers. He got the huge wicket of Maxwell with a slow cross seam delivery denting DDs hopes of winning the match.

With 25 needed off the last over, Laughlin showed calmness and composure under immense pressure by bowling as full as possible and not giving any extras and RR won by 10 runs.