RR vs DC IPL 2022 Highlights: Marsh, Warner half centuries help Delhi Capitals thrash Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets

Warner scores the winning runs and brings up his fifth half century of the season. He has batted through the innings and anchored the chase with Marsh doing the big hitting at the other end. It looked like Warner had got that away to the boundary but Riyan Parag did well to stop it from reaching the ropes. But the batters ran the required the three runs anyway and so it didn’t matter. Warner ends the innings unbeaten on 52 off 41 balls. Mitch Marsh, however, is a no-brainer for the player of the match. Apart from scoring 89 off 62, he had also taken the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal and R Ashwin earlier in the day. 

Pant almost finishes off the chase in the 18th over. Comes down again and manages to reach a slow, wide delivery and deposit it over deep-extra cover. 

That is the kind of shot you see from Pant in a Test match, ridiculously enough. Second ball that he is facing and he steps out to Chahal and sends him flying past long on. 

The partnership between him and David Warner ends on 144 and he goes for 89 off 42 balls. Marsh tries to sweep Chahal, gets a top edge and the ball flies up to short-fine leg for an easy catch. A brilliant innings comes to an end. 

Marsh c Sen b Chahal 89 (62), DC 144/2 in 17.1 overs

And the match is also gone as far as RR are concerned. DC are 144/1, need 17 to win off the last three overs. 

Well he is certainly gunning for a century here. He first pulled Boult and then smashed him to the third tier off the very next ball DC need 22 to win off 21 and Marsh is on 88 off 60. 

They are doing it easy now. Marsh pulls Ashwin hard and puts it past the fence. Is a century on for him?

Warner getting into it now. He has gone past 400 runs for the season, eighth time he has done that. Sweeps Chahal aerially in the gap at deep backward square leg for the boundary. RR 110/1 in 14.3

Warner gets one away and gets his strike rate beyond 100. Good length from Kuldeep Sen and Warner cuts away. 

Need 63 to win off 42 balls. It is safe to say now that they are cruising in this chase. It was in the first over for no runs that DC lost their first wicket so this has been some partnership. Marsh has dominated it and he has looked better and better. Warner’s strike rate is less than 100 though but if he also gets going, this game is over already for RR.

Sublime from Marsh. There wasn’t too much room but Marsh plays it late to cut it past backward point. 

Another close call. Marsh was supposed to be LBW very early in his innings and this time, Buttler jumps over the boundary and tries to slap the ball back in, potentially for a catch because he had a team mate close by. But the ball only falls on the other side of the boundary ropes. That half century has come in 38 balls.

This happens time and again in cricket and it has happened now, the ball hits the bail, the stumps light up, but the bails stay in the groove. That is the third chance Chahal had in the same over to get Warner. Warner was completely beaten by the spin and the replays showed that the ball had kissed the bails before reaching Samson. 

It was a very difficult chance but Chahal might just feel that he had two chances to get Warner there. He finally bowls his first over the match and Warner pulls him and he just about clears deep mid-wicket for a six. Then Chahal tosses it up outside off and Warner goes for it as well. Buttler had to come running in from long on and put in a dive but can’t quite get it in his hands. 

First timeout of the innings taken. DC haven’t set the stadium on fire but they still have their noses ahead because of who they have in the middle and whose still yet to come from the dug out. RR are yet to throw the ball to Chahal but Ashwin comes in to bowl his 2nd over in the 8th. 

Last over of the powerplay and Marsh uses the pace of the third ball and helps it on its way over the shorter third man fence. 

DC are 28/1. Marsh and Warner are being patient here and RR will know how important either of these two wickets will be. Get them out now and you will have Rishabh Pant coming in under the pressure of having to anchor a chase. 

Marsh hits the first maximum of the night for DC. Carrom ball from Ashwin, Marsh reads it like a book and sends it flying over long-on. 

RR bring in their best batter of the day. Boult could have got Marsh had they reviewed an LBW decison that the umpire turned down. Inswinging yorker that goes between bat and leg. DC didn’t take the review, but the replays showed that the ball did hit the boot before taking the toe end of the bat. It would have smashed into the stumps according to hawk-eye. 

That is Prasidh Krishna’s 3rd maiden of the season. Keeps Mitchell Marsh pinned to his crease. Prasidh and Boult are both getting some prodiguous bounce now. Marsh now has one run in 8 balls, Warner yet to get off the mark after facing two. 

Bharat falls for a second ball duck! Takes a hard pull and for a back of a length delivery, goes completely out of shape. He was a little late on that shot and he edges it to the keeper. 

DC 0/1 in 0.2 overs

Here are David Warner and KS Bharat for Delhi Capitals. Trent Boult has the ball in his hands. 

“I thought the way we bowled was outstanding. We had to bowl into the wicket and we used the big side really well. Hopefully we can keep our season alive. I said 160 in the 16th over and we bowled really well – we executed well at the end there. We need to be nice and positive, use the big boundary and run hard. If we keep wickets in hand at the end then we’re going to be right in the game.”

That remains a good score despite the fact that DC absolutely stifled RR for runs in the last five overs. RR could score just 44 runs and lost three wickets in that period and somehow eked out six runs from the final over. 

Now that is a good catch from the substitute Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Padikkal gives himself room but can’t time the shot. Nagarkoti comes rushing in and dives forward to take the catch. Padikkal has been criticised for his strike rate but this has been a good innings. 

Padikkal c sub (KL Nagarkoti) b Nortje 48 (30

Slow delivery from Sakariya that Parag tries to hit over midwicket. He mistimes it and the ball goes straight to Rovman Powell at long on. 

Riyan Parag sends the second delivery he faced into the stands for a six after which Padikkal hit the last ball of the over for a four. 

Samson skies a length ball on the leg side. Thakur settles underneath it and does well to take it behind his head almost. 

Samson c Thakur b Nortje 6 (4), RR 125/4 in 16.1 overs

Fifty and out for Ashwin. He gives himself room, tries to go big but gets no timing on it. The ball goes high up into the sky and Warner does well to keep his eyes on it and take the catch. 

Ashwin c Warner b Marsh 50 (38)

A single off the last ball of the 14th over off Sakariya and that is Ashwin’s maiden IPL fifty which has come in 37 balls. This has been some hand from the senior all-rounder. 

No one is going to teach you how to play that shot. Short from Sakariya and Ashwin seems to be taking evasive action at first. But he has, in fact, kept his bat almost straight up to ramp the ball over the wicketkeeper’s head for four. He takes a single off the next ball to move to 49 off 36. This is his highest score and he is within touching distance of his maiden IPL fifty. 

Back to back sixes from Padikkal. This time he sends Axar soaring over long on. He does the sensible thing and takes a single off the next ball to move to 27 off 15, RR 97/2 in 13 overs. 

Oh sensational from Padikkal. That is what he can do and hasn’t so far this season. Whips out the switch hit against Axar to send the ball behind square. 

RR are 72/2 and they still have Riyan Parag and Sanju Samson in the hut. Ashwin and Padikkal hjave to get a move on here. Ashwin is on 32 off 27. 

Ponting says that he thought there will be more spin in the pitch but it seems to have more bounce instead. Ashwin is currently receiving some medical treatment after a bouncer from Thakur struck him on the underside of his helmet grill. RR 71/2 after 10.4 overs

That’s the end for Jaiswal. Marsh spots Jaiswal moving towards the leg stump to give himself room and he digs it in short towards the leg side. Jaiswal ends up pulling it and has to take on the long boundary now. He fails and Lalit Yadav walks in to take a straightforward catch. 

Kuldeep comes in to bowl the 7th over with RR 49/1. DC would hope that he would be having a better day than he has had in his last couple of games. 

A bit of a fight back here from Ashwin and Jaiswal after DC stifled them for runs for the better part of the first four overs. But DC would be happy with how things have gone so far overall. 

Ashwin steps down the wicket, get to the pitch of the ball and launches it down the ground for a six. He has gone to 20 from 12 and is doing what RR probably needs him to do. 

A couple of quite wonderful shots from Ashwin for four in the fifth over but DC have done well to keep a lid on the proceedings so far. 

That’s a brilliant shot from Jaiswal. Uses the extra pace and bounce provided by Nortje to upper cut it over third man for the first maximum of the day. RR 23/1 in 4 overs. 

RR continue to do interesting things with Ashwin’s batting position. Wonder if the lack of Shimron Hetmyer had something to do with this.

There is the big wicket and Sakariya deservedly celebrates. Full delivery and Buttler tries to muscle it over mid-on, he ends up finding the fielder standing there.

Buttler c Thakur b Sakariya 7 (11), RR 11/1 in 2.5 overs

Low full toss from Nortje for the 1st ball of the 2nd over and Buttler frees his arm to squeeze it away through point. That takes RR to 9/0 with just five runs coming off the first over. 

Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal open for Rajasthan Royals, Chetan Sakariya has the ball in his hands. Jaiswal takes the strike, decides to come down the track straightaway and Sakariya fires one in short. Jaiswal fends it off somehow and takes a single. 

Van Der Dussen has played two matches this season, scoring four and six runs. So he hasn’t been too succesfull but Indian fans would know as well as anyone that the South African is a talented batter considering what he did in the 2021/22 Test and ODI series that India played in the country. 

Rishabh Pant: We gonna bowl first. The wicket is dry and there might be dew later on, we will try to capitalize on that. We are trying to be positive. We can hold more in the middle overs and that’s something we are looking forward to. Anything around 140-160 would be a good total. We have two changes. Lalit Yadav comes in for Ripal Patel and Chetan Sakariya comes in for Khaleel Ahmed.

Sanju Samson: We don’t mind (batting first), would love to put up a good score here. We have one change. Rassie comes in place of Hetty (Hetmyer). We have been playing some good cricket and we would like to continue with that. Looks like a good surface, might be a bit sticky to start with but we are okay with it.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Rassie van der Dussen, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen

David Warner, Srikar Bharat, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Lalit Yadav, Rovman Powell, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Chetan Sakariya, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje

Delhi Capitals win the toss, choose to bowl first. RR have brought on Rassie Van der Dussen for Shimron Hetmyer

While Kuldeep Chahal is fourth in the Purple Cap table, the fact remains that 14 of his 18 wickets came in just about five matches. 

There is no doubting the South African pacer’s ability but Nortje has taken time getting back to regular first team action since recovering from an injury that kept him out of action for much of the latter half of 2021. He may have conceded 42 runs but took 3 wickets as well, which is encouraging for DC. 

David Warner, Srikar Bharat, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Rovman Powell, Ripal Patel, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Tim Seifert, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashwin Hebbar, Praveen Dubey, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lalit Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, Chetan Sakariya, Yash Dhull, Vicky Ostwal

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Rassie van der Dussen, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, James Neesham, Navdeep Saini, KC Cariappa, Daryl Mitchell, Obed McCoy, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Anunay Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Garhwal

Shimron Hetmyer has been an important cog for Rajasthan Royals and possibly the only player keeping them from being called a properly top-heavy team. He has scored 291 runs at an impressive strike rate of 166.28, often becoming the difference between victory and defeat for RR with his late displays. But he is currently back home in the Carribean for the birth of his child and so that will be a big hole for RR to fill today.

Bowling first seems to be a captain’s favourite decision after winning the toss in the IPL, understandably of course, but teams batting first have won eight of the last nine matches this season. The winning margin for sides batting first has been over 50 runs as well.

Delhi Capitals assistant coach Shane Watson said that the team’s biggest challenge this season has been in their execution of plans. “Our biggest challenge this season has been our execution. We have executed our plans in all three departments at times, but we’ve not been able to be consistent. The players have been working really hard to find a way to be consistent and hopefully, we can execute our plans over the last three games,” said Watson. 

Sanju Samson, who was made RR captain last season, is the only player to strike above 140 as skipper and has maintained a strike-rate of 140-plus across both periods – as captain and non-captain – and his average has also gone up after taking over captaincy.

Teams batting first at this venue have succesfully defended their totals and players have often said that the pitch is two-paced. But, considering this is not a day game, it would be no surprise to see the captain winning the toss choose to bowl first. 

… produced one of the all-time IPL classics. Rajasthan Royals had scored 222/2 thanks to Jos Buttler’s 116 off 65 balls. DC seemed dead and burried but then Rovman Powell launched three massive sixes off the first three balls of the final over, in which they needed 36 runs to win. However, the momentum was disrupted by the DC camp themselves, with a coach running on to the pitch and Pant gesturing to the batters to argue more with the umpires as to why that third ball was not declared a no ball for height. Powell could not middle the next ball and so that was the end of it. Who knows what would have happened if DC could have kept their cool. 

It has been a pretty even contest between these two teams over the years, with RR just about leading 13-12. 

Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have made it impossible for them to be ignored the next time India assemble a team for a T20 series. Chahal is leading the Purple Cap table with 22 wickets in 11 matches while Kuldeep, who has been in the top two for most of the season, is currently fourth with 18 wickets. 

Shaw missed DC’s match against SRH and also in their next game against CSK. It was just before the start of the latter game that he posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed and said that he was admitted with high fever. His replacements Mandeep Singh and Sreekar Bharat did not get upto much in both games and so it remains to be seen if he returns or who plays as Warner’s opening partner. 

Jos Buttler and David Warner and bona fide international superstars and the latter has been around since the early days of the IPL. Both have seen their abilities being questioned, with Warner’s alarming dip in form ending in an ugly divorce with SRH and Buttler’s credentials as an all format regular for England being questioned due to his struggles with the bat in Test cricket. But this IPL, they have bossed the game and how. Warner has scored 375 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 156.90 while Buttler incredibly has smashed three centuries. The Englishman has 618 runs to his name at a strike rate of 152.21 in 11 innings.  

One has to feel for how the season has gone for Delhi Capitals. They may have even faced situations where they could hardly train at all because of the Covid-19 scares before matches. And yet, they remain fifth, albeit four points behind fourth place. A victory for RR today, however, could potentially open a gap between the top four and the rest of the chasing pack that might just be too big for any of the chasing teams to close and so DC might just be the neutrals’ favourite today.