IPL 2018, RR vs DD: Five Reasons for Delhi's loss in a rain-curtailed match
It was the first IPL game at Jaipur's Sawai Man Singh Stadium since 2013 that saw the home team take on the Delhi Daredevils in their second game of the season.
The start wasn't ideal for the Rahane led-Royals as they were put into bat after Delhi won the toss.
Things went from bad to worse as D'Arcy Short, for the second consecutive time was runout but Rahane took charge along with Sanju Samson, who blazed the opposition bowlers before he was dismissed by Nadeem.
The innings saw a resurrection after Butler and Tripathi enabled them to 153 for 7 in 17.5 overs before rain stopped the play to leave the Daredevils with a DLS target of 71 to chase in just six overs.
Chasing 71 to win, Delhi began in the most unlikely fashions as they lost Munro on the first delivery of their run chase.
In the overs to follow, Royals’ bowlers were effective with their slower balls, taking the pace of the ball, and making it impossible for the batters to tong the ball hard.
Eventually, a game that was always in Delhi’s favour, was too far away from their reach as they succumbed to defeat by 10 runs.
Let's take a glance at the probable reasons that played a major role in Delhi's loss:
#1 Rain played spoil-sport
It was a match set game situation for the Delhi Daredevils who were looking for their maiden win in the tournament before rain played the spoilsport in the 18th over of the first innings.
The bowlers were commendable in their job as wickets continue to tumble for the Royals at constant intervals.
But in a rain-curtailed match, which saw the visitors requiring 71 from their six overs, it was always a huge ask despite some big guns featuring in their rank.
Requiring about 12 runs in an over, a brisk start was needed for Delhi which never happened and the visitors lost by 10 runs.