Deepak Hooda sets platform for Tim Southee to steal a last-ball win for Rajasthan Royals over fighting Delhi Daredevils
Delhi Daredevils failed to end their losing streak in the Indian Premier League after going down in yet another last-ball thriller to Rajasthan Royals by three wickets at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Sunday.
Required to score 12 off the last six deliveries, Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews couldn't do much about the last drive from Tim Southee. However, the match was going away in the middle overs, thanks to an excellent innings from Deepak Hooda as the experienced Ajinkya Rahane watched it from the other end.
Hooda's blistering 25-ball 54 made the difference for the visiting team as Daredevils slipped to their 11th consecutive defeat.
Hooda had his share of luck as Delhi missed the chance to run him out before Manoj Tiwary dropped a catch and, to his horror, watched the ball sail over the boundary for a six. Had Royals taken the chance, it could have been a different story.
Asked to bat first by the stand-in Royals skipper Steven Smith as original captain Shane Watson missed out due to right knee injury, the hosts did everything right by posting 184/3.
Even while bowling, Daredevils' two impact leg-spinners, Imran Tahir (4/28) and Amit Mishra (2/32), had the match in control till the 12th over of the chase. But Hooda changed the complexion of the game with his successive match-winning knock.
There was a slight hope again for the hosts after Tahir removed Hooda in the 19th over. Royals needed 19 off the last 11 deliveries. But Chris Morris struck a six off the first ball he faced to shift the balance again in Royals' side. Tahir castled James Faulkner to keep the hopes alive. Morris and Southee, however, held their nerves and a last-ball boundary from the latter against Mathews sealed the game.
Earlier, it was opener Mayank Agarwal who gave Delhi the impetus as he pulled one off Kiwis' speedster Southee in the innings' fifth ball to set the tone. Southee conceded 21 in his first two overs. It was only after the introduction of spinner Pravin Tambe that saw Agarwal give a simple return catch a for 21-ball 37.
Skipper JP Duminy, who was criticised in Delhi's first game for holding himself back till No. 7, promoted himself to No. 3. IPL's most expensive player till date, Yuvraj Singh, though signalled his intentions immediately after his arrival at the middle, but a wonderfully-judged catch from Karun Nair, who ran across from deep backward square-leg in the next over, brought Yuvraj's short burst (17-ball 27) to an end.
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