On Wednesday night, Rajasthan Royals (RR) suffered a thrilling close defeat against the hosts Delhi Daredevils (DD) in the rain-interrupted game at Feroz Shah Kotla as DD won the match by 4 runs in D/L method.

Rajasthan captain Ajinkya Rahane decided to bowl first after winning the toss. However, rain delayed beginning the first innings as match reduced to 18-overs per side. With the strong attacking batting efforts from Prithvi Shaw, skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, Delhi put a big total of 196/6 in 17.1 overs before rain once again interrupted the game.

Later, RR had a revised target of mammoth 151-run in 12 overs which they fell short by just 5 runs as RR managed to score 146/5 in 12 overs.

Now, we will briefly talk about some important reasons for RRs defeat in this game.

Also read: Match 32 (DD vs RR) – Hits and Flops

Rain-interruptions and DLS method

Several rain-interruptions played a major role for Rajasthan Royals’ defeat in this game as Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method or DLS method provided an uphill task for the visitors. While DD finished their innings on 196/6 in 17.1 overs, RR had the revised-target of 151 runs in 12 overs with 12.58 required run-rates.

Though the visiting team tried hard to reach that tough target but just failed to get that as they lost the game by 4 runs.

Poor bowling efforts         

RR bowlers showed poor bowling efforts with the ball. All the bowlers had over 9 economy rates while only two bowlers managed to stick their economy rate under 10. Among the 17 overs, there were only five overs where RR bowlers conceded less than 10 runs. The visiting bowlers struggled in that condition very much as they hardly bowled in the consistent line and lengths.

Slow start from D’Arcy Short

Chasing the target like 151 runs in just 12 overs, RR needed a good fast start. While opener Jos Buttler utilised the powerplay very well with his firing start, another opener D’Arcy Short was too slow at that moment. His slow knock was raising the pressure on the scoreboard as well as Buttler too.

Though later Short geared up his innings and scored 44 runs off 25 balls with 2 fours and 4 sixes, that was not enough to heal his earlier slow knock.

Amit Mishra’s superb bowling

While every other bowler was getting punished, DD leg-spinner Amit Mishra bowled superbly as his bowling figure was 2-0-12-1 with just 6.00 economy rates. The Indian leggie provided five dot balls and conceded only six in his short but very effective spell. Moreover, he dismissed the most dangerous batsman in that innings, Jos Buttler through the stumping.

Amit Mishra’s superb bowling effort strengthen DD’s grip in the game.

Also read: (DD vs RR) – Turning Point of the Match 

Wickets were falling regularly

While Buttler and Short had a superb fast 84-run partnership for the opening wicket, there were no such other partnerships which could carry that innings for the victory. Since Buttler was dismissed after his thrashing 67 runs knock off 26 balls, other next batsmen departed cheaply. While those balls were counted as the dot balls, it proved very costly at the end of the game as DD won the game by just 4 runs.