IPL 2018, RR vs DD: Five Reasons for Delhi's loss in a rain-curtailed match

It was the first IPL game at Jaipur's Sawai Man Singh Stadium since 2013 that saw the home team take on the Delhi Daredevils in their second game of the season.

The start wasn't ideal for the Rahane led-Royals as they were put into bat after Delhi won the toss.

Things went from bad to worse as D'Arcy Short, for the second consecutive time was runout but Rahane took charge along with Sanju Samson, who blazed the opposition bowlers before he was dismissed by Nadeem.

The innings saw a resurrection after Butler and Tripathi enabled them to 153 for 7 in 17.5 overs before rain stopped the play to leave the Daredevils with a DLS target of 71 to chase in just six overs.

Chasing 71 to win, Delhi began in the most unlikely fashions as they lost Munro on the first delivery of their run chase.

In the overs to follow, Royals’ bowlers were effective with their slower balls, taking the pace of the ball, and making it impossible for the batters to tong the ball hard.

Eventually, a game that was always in Delhi’s favour, was too far away from their reach as they succumbed to defeat by 10 runs.

Let's take a glance at the probable reasons that played a major role in Delhi's loss:

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#1 Rain played spoil-sport

The rain saw Delhi just requiring 71 runs in six overs

It was a match set game situation for the Delhi Daredevils who were looking for their maiden win in the tournament before rain played the spoilsport in the 18th over of the first innings.

The bowlers were commendable in their job as wickets continue to tumble for the Royals at constant intervals.

But in a rain-curtailed match, which saw the visitors requiring 71 from their six overs, it was always a huge ask despite some big guns featuring in their rank.

Requiring about 12 runs in an over, a brisk start was needed for Delhi which never happened and the visitors lost by 10 runs.

#2 Failure of big guns like Munro and Maxwell

Maxwell failed to impress in his first match back at DD

Chasing 71, there was a complete shift in the batting order that saw the likes of Maxwell and Munro opening the batting for the visitors.

Delhi expected the big guns to take the charge and see them home in a rain-curtailed match.

The pressure got the better of them as the duo failed to get going in a six-over game. The start was even more horrible as Munro was run out on the first delivery without even facing a ball.

Even Maxwell didn’t find it easy to stroke the ball hard as he could only manage 17 from the 12 deliveries that he faced, leaving a daunting task in the hands of the batsmen to follow.

#3 Rahane- Samson Partnership for the Royals

Rahane and Samson steadied the ship after the wicket of Short

The start for the Royals wasn’t on the expected lines as they lost their opener early in the innings.

At No. 3, in came Samson to partner his captain who was struggling to find the gaps early on in his innings.

But Samson, broke the shackles as he stroked the ball with ease to get the flow of runs going.

Seeing the youngster, Rahane grew in confidence and started playing his classic shots. The duo hinged on a crucial partnership and frustrated the opposition bowlers.

A stand of more than 50 runs set the platform for the batsmen to follow, to help them strike the ball from the word go.

#4 Buttler’s Cameo in the end

Buttler's blitz at the end powered the Royals to 153

Before rain could halt the game, it was some brutal hitting from the Royals’ wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler that saw the team post a considerable target in their available overs.

The blitz at the end powered them to 153 in quick time and helped them with the DLS par score in the end.

Buttler mustered 29 runs from just 18 deliveries, smoking them at a strike rate in excess of 150.

It was a crucial stage that asked for the much-needed flourish at the end after the Rahane-Samson partnership laid a good platform for him to go after the bowlers from the first ball.

#1 Rahane opening the attack with Gowtham

Gowtham did a decent job in the first over to restrict Delhi's big-hitters

The skipper was bang on with his captaincy skills in judging the opposition weaknesses and planning accordingly.

Rahane was quick to spot the two overseas openers coming from the Delhi side and threw the ball to Karnataka's Krishnappa Gowtham to start the proceedings.

The off-spinner didn’t disappoint his skipper as he managed to pull off a runout on the first delivery to send the explosive Colin Munro back to the pavilion.

He just conceded ten runs in his first over as it became difficult to clear the ropes. In a game where twelve runs were required every over, the off-spinner did a decent job for his team to start against the likes of Maxwell and Munro.