DC vs RR | Meme Report - Amit Mishra, Rishabh Pant heroics ensure Rajasthan Royals out of IPL 2019

05/04/2019

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Rishabh Pant played a solid 53-run innings in a 116-run chase as Delhi Capitals secured their eighth win in the IPL 2019. Earlier in the innings, Amit Mishra was just too good with the ball and albeit his hat-trick didn’t come to fruition, he ensured the Royals were restricted to a minimum total.

After winning the toss, Rajasthan Royals opted to bat first, but suddenly the team was exposed to some lethal pace-bowling by Ishant Sharma. While a leg-stump half-volley from Ishant got the better of Ajinkya Rahane, Liam Livingstone was undone by a slower-ball and the team was suddenly reduced to 24/2 after four overs.

A lot was dependent on Sanju Samson to help the team regain the momentum, but he involved himself in a terrible mix-up alongside Mahipal Lomror to be dismissed for an eight-ball five that put the team in troubled waters. Lomror also followed suit instantly as Ishant shortened his length and angled the ball across the left-hander to find out that Lomror’s feet were nowhere near his stance of off-side play. That resulted in an edge and as soon as the over ended, the team was on 30/4 after six overs.

Although there was very little spine left for the Royals at that moment, and their four top-order batsmen were back in the comforts of the dressing room, there was slight hopes from Riyan Parag and Shreyas Gopal. They tried their level best but at the cost of the run-rate, but Amit Mishra sent both Shreyas Gopal and Stuart Binny on two back to back deliveries to ensure that the game was an easy for the team from national capitals.

Mishra, who had three IPL hat-tricks against his name, was on the verge of adding another to his legend, and to help his cause, Gowtham top-edged the very next delivery, which could’ve been gobbled up by Trent Boult. The Kiwi rightfully attempted it, but under the growing sun, he made a mess up it in the last moment, leaving Mishra speechless. On the other hand, Riyan Parag was showing great application to hang in there and negotiated the middle overs for fours and sixes.

Amidst the storm, Riyan Parag was an oasis of calm and didn’t lose his composure at the time of despair. He tried to have as much strike as he could, and eventually succeeded to complete his first IPL fifty which evaded him for the last two forties. His 50 had sweat written all over it as he managed to score in the most dire situation possible and guided the team to 115.

The little target of 116 runs was supposed to be a cakewalk for the team, but Ish Sodhi didn’t let the Capitals get any freebies by sending Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw back within four overs of the run-chase. However, the team was on the right track and ensured that they scored as many as 46 runs in the powerplay.

After the openers’ failure to play long innings, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer took charge to ride on the momentum handed over to them thanks to some quick runs by the duo. While Iyer hit out against the spinners, Pant was just too good against the pacers. The duo worked well in tandem until Shreyas Gopal got the better of his namesake to give Rajasthan their third wicket when the team was on 61/2 in eight overs.

Ish Sodhi and Rahane celebrate wildly after Ingram’s wicket

It was still Delhi’s game to lose and with Pant being out there, the Delhi fans must’ve waited massively for the final celebration. However, Rajasthan had that tiny hope if they could upset the applecart and win a game to be in the contention for the play-offs, and that came when Ingram was dismissed for 12 in the 14th over and that led to Rahane and Ish Sodhi celebrating like there was no tomorrow.