Daredevils Outclass Rajasthan Royals With Their Exclusive Play...

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.