Sanju Samson’s valiant effort — 86 off 46 balls — wasn’t enough as Delhi Capitals defeated Rajasthan Royals by 20 runs at the Kotla in Delhi on Tuesday.

Royals’ loss means KKR stay at the top with 16 points following a better run-rate. This was the Royals’ third loss in 11 matches. Capitals moved up to 12 points from 12 matches and are now placed fifth in the standings.

Chasing 222, Royals were off to a poor start but Samson kept them in the chase. He slammed eight boundaries and six sixes and was dismissed in controversial circumstances.

Samson lifted Mukesh Kumar but Shai Hope took a good catch running to his left from long-on. The onfield umpires went for a review and replays showed that as Hope landed after taking the catch, he lunged forward before retaining balance to keep himself away from the rope. From one angle, however, it looked like he had tripped over and touched the rope.

But the third umpire ruled Samson out. The Royals captain walked up to the onfield umpire in protest, but there wasn’t much he could do. The Royals needed 63 off the last five overs when Samson was dismissed but none of the other batters showed the willpower to take them to victory.

Earlier, a blazing start by Jake Fraser-McGurk provided Delhi Capitals with the perfect launch pad against the Royals.

There were other useful contributions from Abhishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs which helped the home team finish on 221/8. Fraser-McGurk completed his half-century off 19 balls while Porel made 65 off 36.

It was mainly because of Fraser-McGurk that the Capitals reached 78/2 in the Powerplay overs.

Royals’ off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took wickets in his successive overs but pacer Avesh Khan bled runs.

Had it not been for some smart bowling by Ashwin and fellow off-spinner Riyan Parag in the middle overs, the Capitals would have accumulated more runs. Royals’ pacer Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma came in with hit-the-deck approach and largely succeeded in not letting the home openers swing freely.

Fraser-McGurk grew restless and began to throw his bat around. The Australian gradually got his rhythm and was harsh on Avesh, whom he blasted for 28 runs, plundering four fours and two sixes in the fourth over of the innings.

As fate would have it, Fraser-McGurk had a soft dismissal when he hit a full-toss from Ashwin straight to cover fielder Donovon Ferreira.

Shai Hope too departed soon in a rather unfortunate fashion. Porel hit Sandeep straight, the ball touched the bowler’s hand before crashing onto the stumps with the West Indian left stranded outside the crease.

Porel though kept going strong and completed his fifty while Avesh continued to leak runs. In his two overs, he conceded 42 runs.

Rishabh Pant, the home skipper, couldn’t do much, throwing his wicket away with a sweep off Chahal. Delhi gathered 65 runs from the last five overs.