IPL 2018, RR vs DD: Hits and Misses
It was the sixth game of the IPL and the trend of bowling first continued. This time it was Delhi Daredevils who won the toss and opted to field first.
D’Arcy Short, like the first game, started with a confident boundary. But he was once again run out for 6. Ben Stokes was promoted to No. 3 but that move failed as after a good start the England all-rounder was dismissed by a beautiful delivery from Trent Boult.
Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson steadied the ship as the duo added 62 runs for the third wicket. However, both the batsmen didn’t convert their starts and fell at crucial junctures.
Jos Buttler did hit a couple of lusty blows before he was undone by Mohammed Shami. Rain made an appearance after the former’s dismissal as the Rajasthan Royals innings ended at 153/5 in 17.5 overs.
With rain halting play for almost two and a half hours, the Delhi innings was reduced to 6 overs and the revised target was 71. DD lost Colin Munro off the first delivery to a runout and they never found rhythm. They kept losing wickets and the dot deliveries grew which added to the pressure. DD eventually fell 10 runs short as they lost via Duckworth-Lewis.
#5 Miss: Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes was the costliest cricketer for the second consecutive year in the IPL when he was picked by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 12.5 crores in the auction in January this year. After making a successful comeback in the ODI series against New Zealand, but he was unable to bowl long spells in the Test series due to a back injury.
After scoring just 5 in the first game, Stokes was promoted to No. 3 against DD. He started well as he struck a boundary off his fifth delivery. He then struck a wonderful six off Chris Morris and it seemed that Stokes was in the mood. However, he got out caught behind to an excellent delivery from Trent Boult.
Ben Stokes was dismissed for 16 and it was his second consecutive failure.