The South Africans seem to be in great nick in the IPL. If Heinrich Klaasen gave Sunrisers their first victory in this edition on Wednesday, Tristan Stubbs brought Delhi Capitals close to reaching their target against Rajasthan Royals a day later.
Chasing 186, Stubbs brought them within sniffing distance with 17 needed off the last over. But Avesh Khan bowled a tidy over as the visitors fell short by 12 runs in Jaipur. In the end, Royals’ Riyan Parag’s innings made the difference.
Stubbs carted Ravichandran Ashwin for 19 runs in the 17th over to keep DC in the hunt. His 44 not out off 23 balls was the highlight of their innings though there were other useful contributions.
David Warner’s 49 off 34 balls gave DC a good start but once he was caught superbly by Sandeep Sharma, the chase fell through. Rishabh Pant is still struggling with his rhythm and just when he was about to get into his groove, a slider got him as Sanju Samson held on to the snick.
Earlier, Parag pulled the Royals out of the depths of despair to reach 185/5.
The Royals’ No.4 batter remained unbeaten on 84 off 45 balls, his best IPL score, as they recovered from 36/3 in the eighth over. Parag plundered runs and blasted 25 runs off the last over by Anrich Nortje which included two sixes and three boundaries.
The Assam batter paced his innings beautifully and accumulated 68 off the last 25 balls he faced. It was sensational stuff as he disdainfully lifted the South African pacer repeatedly over mid wicket in the final over.
Parag, who had been in good form in the just-concluded domestic season, showed responsibility and carried the Royals innings. Following a subdued start, he found fluency and battered the Royals bowling. He ruined Khaleel Ahmed’s figures in his last over taking 14 runs off the left-arm pacer.
Ashwin provided him with adequate support with a quickfire 29 off 19, which included three sixes. In the death overs, Shimron Hetmyer was at hand to provide momentum to the innings but it was Parag’s daredevilry which helped the Royals add 77 runs in the last five overs. That proved to be the deciding factor.
