The Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) traveled to the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi for the 56th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) against the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals (DC) on Tuesday, May 7.
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bowl first in the match. The RR bowling unit wasn’t quite up to par in the match and ended up conceding 221 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin was the team’s top wicket-taker as he took a 3-wicket haul. Apart from him, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal got a wicket each.
For Delhi Capitals, Abishek Porel (65) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (50) did a fantastic job at the start and then Tristan Stubbs (41) ended the innings on a high with his powerful knock.
Chasing the target, Sanju Samson led from the front and played an excellent knock of 86 runs. He was well supported by Riyan Parag and Shubham Dubey but after their dismissals, Rajasthan Royals were restricted to 201/8 and lost the match by 20 runs.
After the match, Samson said that they thought the match was in their hands and the goal could have been pursued. Sanju Samson also said that they gave away 10 extra runs in the match. Sanju Samson explained:
“I think we had it in hand, it was around 11-12 runs per over, it was achievable, these things happen in the IPL.”
“Yes, we do both things well, we would like to stick to what the conditions require. 220 was 10 runs more to chase, the DC opener came out and did what he can, we still came back well.”
While Sanju Samson mentioned that Rajasthan Royals lost a few close games, he praised DC batsman Tristan Stubbs for doing a great job against his best bowlers. Sanju Samson explained:
“We lost three games but all of those games were very close, we played remarkably well, we still need to do some fine-tuning and keep the momentum going. Yes and no, you actually have to acknowledge that.” Someone like Stubbs, who batted well against Sandeep, scored 2-3 sixes more against my best bowlers, Yuzi Chahal and Sandeep Sharma. We lost the game, we have to find out where we lost the game, we have to move on.”
Current position of Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024 points table
Before the game against Delhi Capitals, the dominant Rajasthan Royals occupied the second position in the Indian Premier League 2024 points table. Notably, RR was recently dethroned from the No. 1 position after KKR following a brutal win over the Lucknow Super Giants took the top spot.
The first champions had 16 points in ten games as they won eight games. Team RR’s net run rate was 0.622. Now, with the end of the DC conflict, they have maintained their position.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) will next be seen in action in the 61st match of the Indian Premier League 2024 when they take on Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai on May 12.
Speaking of Delhi Capitals: Due to their up-and-down season, they were in sixth place in the table before the game. With a poor net run rate of -0.442, the Rishabh Pant-led side had 10 points with five wins and six losses in 11 games. After the end of the game against Rajasthan Royals, they moved to 5th place.
Delhi Capitals will next travel to Bengaluru to take on the Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 62nd match of IPL 2024 on May 12 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.