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IPL 2018: Rajasthan Win Rain-Hit Contest

Last night’s game was vital for both teams Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils, as both lost their respective season openers. Prior to this game, all five IPL 2018 matches were won by the team who won the toss, and all five came batting second. Delhi’s captain Gautam Gambhir did the same by winning the toss and bowling first. However, this trend was soon about to end!

The Royals were cantering along, with captain Ajinkya Rahane playing the anchor knock of 45(40) and Sanju Samson playing another good innings of 39(22), after a standout 49 in the last game. They were placed well at 153/5 in 17.5 overs and set for a 180+ score when rain came to interrupt play.

The rain stayed quite a while and the RR innings came to an end, as overs began getting deducted. Obviously, it was advantage Delhi Daredevils as the Duckworth-Lewis system tends to favour the team batting second. Probably another reason for Gambhir elected to field first.

Delhi certainly held the advantage going into the second half, with 70 set to win from 6 overs. They needed almost 12 runs an over so they decided to tweak their batting line-up a bit and send Glenn Maxwell to open the innings with Colin Munro – both murderers of the cricket ball.

Sadly, tragedy struck on the first ball, with Munro being run out without even facing a ball, and then Maxwell being dismissed for 17(12). Rishabh Pant, Chris Morris, Vijay Shankar and Shreyas Iyer followed but none could get the hitting right. Morris tried hard with 17(7)* but they still fell 10 runs short of the target thanks mainly to some good death bowling by Jaydev Unadkat and Ben Laughlin.

Maybe next time they have a shoot-out of 6 overs, they should just stick to their regular opener, Gambhir; whatever the situation, your best batsman should always be out at the crease. This win completed RR’s 9th consecutive win at Jaipur and their 7th consecutive win over the Delhi Daredevils. Man of the Match: Sanju Samson.

Keep reading GutshotMagazine.com for daily IPL 2018 updates!

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