Floundering Royals look to stay afloat vs rampant Delhi

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

A rampant Delhi Capitals (DC) will look to go on top while struggling Rajasthan bid to keep their hopes alive with a win in their IPL match at the Sharjah Stadium on Friday.

Rajasthan have lost three of their five matches and are next to rock bottom as they languish in seventh place in the eight-team league.

In their last match, current table-toppers Mumbai Indians routed them by 57 runs. Chasing a fighting total of 196, Rajasthan could muster only 136, despite a gritty 44-ball knock of 70 by England batsman Jos Buttler.

Apart from Buttler, no other batsman could show any resistance as seven of them failed to reach even double figures.

Rajasthan’s problem has been the lack of depth in their batting. Their whole batting revolves around Steve Smith, Buttler and Sanju Samson.

Smith has not delivered in their last three matches, failing as he has done to convert the starts into big scores. Samson is the only Rajasthan batsman, who features in the top twenty highest scorers in this season, albeit at the 12th spot with 171 runs off five innings, with two fifties to boot. Rahul Tewatia has turned out to be a one-match wonder after hitting Kings XI Punjab’s Sheldon Cottrell for 30 runs in an over with the help of five sixes. He is yet to come up with any significant performance since that match.

Their bowling also looks pretty ordinary with Jofra Archer being the only one who looks to be a potential match-winning bowler. He is their only bowler, who is among the top 20 wicket takers, occupying 13th spot with five scalps in as many games.

On the other hand, a clinical Delhi is brimming with confidence after winning four of their five games so far. They are in the second spot and closing in on the last four berth with eighth points already in their kitty.

Coach Ricky Ponting’s meticulous planning and execution by his players reflects in the performance of Delhi.

Delhi, who are one of the three teams to have never won an IPL title, have emerged as one of the top contenders this season.

They defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 59 runs in their last match. After posting a huge total of 196, Delhi restricted Bangalore to 137.

Kagiso Rabada, who is the highest wicket-taker with 12 scalps in five games, led the rout with a four-wicket haul along with compatriot Anrich Nortje, who claimed two wickets.

It’s been a delight to watch both the South African pacers bowling in tandem. With the form they are in, they look to be able to defend any total irrespective of the opponents and the conditions on any given day.”

All-rounder Harshal Patel said that his team’s focus is always on execution of the game-plan regardless of their opponent.

“I think all the teams in the tournament are very competitive and that’s why the quality of cricket is unparalleled.

“So when it comes to players like Buttler, Smith or Samson, you just have to focus on executing your skill. You do the planning in your team meetings and when you get on to the field, it’s all about translating all your practice and planning into action,” said Harshal in a virtual press conference.

“We’re always pondering on how we can get better – even though in the last game we put on a clinical performance but the conversation has always been around what else we can do to get better, what else we can do to close out the small mistakes that we’re making,” the all-rounder said.

“We just want to get better as the tournament progresses. Everyone who’s been around in the IPL knows that the second half of IPL is one of the most difficult segments of the tournament.

“So we don’t want to get complacent, we don’t want to relax, we just want to keep our focus and try to get better by putting in the effort,” he added.