Shane Watson’s brilliant knock of 74 runs led Rajasthan Royals to defeat the Delhi Daredevils and maintain their team’s position at No.1 in the IPL points table. Rajasthan Royals have now won in 7 matches out of the 9 matches played so far. Delhi Daredevils have won 4 matches out of the 8 matches played by them.

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field first. Delhi Daredevils started their Innings thru their openers – Gautham Gambhir and Virendra Sehwag who scored 31 and 17 runs respectively. Ab de Villiers scored 20 runs and Maharoof played a quick knock of 39 runs off just 16 balls (2 boundaries and 4 sixers). At the end of 20 overs, the Delhi Daredevils made a modest total of 156 runs for the fall of 7 wickets.

Chasing the modest target of 157 runs, the Rajasthan Royals started their Innings. The openers Yusuf Pathan and Graeme Smith scored 8 and 24 runs respectively. Shane Watson’s excellent innings of 74 runs off 40 balls (5 boundaries and 5 sixers) helped their team to reach the target score. At the crucial point of the game, there was a controversy when Shane Watson’s run-out appeal was rejected by the Umpire. Sehwag, the Delhi Dardevils’s skipper wanted the decision to be given by Third Umpire. The third umpire’s decision of run-out was favorable for the Delhi daredevils. However, the Rajasthan Royals won the match by 3 wickets and Shane Watson was declared the Man of the Match.

Posted on May 12th, 2008 by Cricket
Filed under: IPL Cricket