Delhi Capitals (DC) continued their fine run in the tournament, as they registered their sixth win of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). They beat former champions Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 13 runs in Match 30, in Dubai, on Wednesday. With this win, they rose to the top spot again, as we take a look at the talking points from this tie.
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Shikhar Dhawan-Ajinkya Rahane should not be at the top-order together: Both Dhawan and Rahane are prolific batsmen. However, both playing at the top-order might be a problem for DC. With both striking at the rate of 100, especially during the powerplay, they need someone who plays in a composed manner, while the other plays big. As a result, pushing Rahane down to the middle-order makes an ideal choice.
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Using Jofra Archer in PP was a good decision: RR skipper Steve Smith decided to use pacer Jofra Archer in the PP, rather than preserving him for the death. The decision was a fine one, as the pacer got rid of Prithvi Shaw and Rahane early, thereby allowing themselves to create pressure on the DC batsmen right away.
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Shreyas Iyer's strict ability to pull off a partnership: One of the unique characteristics this season about DC skipper Shreyas Iyer has been his ability to pull off a partnership, no matter who the batsman is at the other end. Undoubtedly, this would allow him to cement his spot in the middle-order of not just DC, but also Team India.
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DC spinners bowling according to the situation: Unquestionably, it was the DC spinners, namely Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, who did a fine job of restricting the batsmen. They happened to bowl according to the situation and in the required line and length, hardly giving room for the batsmen to fire.
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Smith needs to anchor RR innings: Smith is in a fine form right now, assuredly. However, the reason why RR continues to struggle is that he is unable to anchor the innings from an end, despite getting off to a good start. In case he takes the responsibility to play it out till the end, it would solve some of RR's batting woes.
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Match summary: Electing to bat first, DC were off to a shaky start. However, it was Dhawan (57) and Iyer's (53) innings that allowed them to finish at a par total of 1617, as Archer claimed 319. In reply, it was RR opener Ben Stokes (41), along with veteran Robin Uthappa (32), who did provide some fightback in an otherwise dull innings. However, Tushar Deshpande and Anrich Nortje's two-wicket haul each compelled RR to finish 13 runs short, on 1488.
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