Delhi outclass Rajasthan in revenge win

Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals, IPL, Bloemfontein

The Bulletin by Shwe Wai

Delhi Daredevils 150 for 3 (de Villiers 79*, Dilshan 33) beat Rajasthan Royals 136 for 9 (Botha 37, Mishra 3-33) by 14 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	AB de Villiers remained unbeaten in another clutch innings in Delhi's revenge win over Rajasthan

Riding some momentum the Rajasthan Royals came to Bloemfontein to face the side they beat in the second week of the tournament to start an amazing turnaround. As it turned out, there was no positive carryover effect in a 14-run loss to the Delhi Daredevils. In a pressure game they needed to win, Rajasthan let the early momentum slip with two drops and a missed run-out chance, lost three early wickets during a stiff chase and will rue allowing Delhi score heavily at the end of their innings.

They now need to beat the Kolkata Knight Riders soundly in their final league game. If they don't manage that the race for a semi-final spot shifts to net run-rates, and hoping some of the other teams slip up.

In a match when the ball jagged and spun past the bat more often than it hit the middle - largely down to a sporting pitch that assisted pace and spin - two crucial hands allowed Delhi to recover from the loss of their openers. Munaf Patel appeared to have it figured from the first over, keeping it straight and on a length to get rid of the dangerous duo of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag in his second but returned to bowl a horror 19th over after Rajasthan's support cast disappointed. From 15 for 2 a resourceful 87-run stand between AB de Villiers, who read the conditions excellently, and Tillakaratne Dilshan buttressed Delhi to a competitive total. And therein lay the difference between a reasonable total and a winning one.

Delhi's innings gradually changed character when Rajasthan's second-choice bowlers came on. The pitch was slow and Shane Warne set attacking fields for the first ten overs, so all that was needed was for de Villiers and Dilshan to perforate the field consistently. The loose offerings weren't spared - Siddharth Trivedi strangely dropped it short and wide when the pitch was demanding of a fuller length - and both batsmen slapped fours off his first and only over.

As Warne brought Johan Botha and himself on for spin, de Villiers and Dilshan resorted to common-sense cricket. Balls were knocked in the gaps, the cross-batted shots were shunned and the score ticked over mainly with singles and doubles. Both employed the late dabs effectively and their ability to scamper between the wickets hurt Rajasthan. It wasn't smooth sailing, though, as Warne got plenty of turn from a slow track and Botha mixed flight and speed in a tidy spell.