Watson's Royals back on top of IPL table

An unbeaten 91 from Ajinkya Rahane and economic bowling from Shane Watson and James Faulkner have helped the Rajasthan Royals to snap a five-game winless streak.

The Royals returned to their winning ways with a 14-run victory over a Delhi team featuring Nathan Coulter-Nile and Gurinder Sandhu.

Rahane had endured a rare failure in the previous match but came back strongly against the Daredevils, helping Rajasthan to a match-winning total and regaining the Orange Cap from David Warner.

Batting first on a green pitch, Rahane and Watson took their time to adjust to the surface and seeing the shine off the new ball worked perfectly as Rajasthan recovered from a slow start to post 0-43 after the Powerplay overs, including 20 from the final two.

Watson’s knock of 21 was ended by an Angelo Mathews delivery that bounced much more than he expected, but at other end, Rahane batted like a dream. Unaffected by the grass on the pitch, he played orthodox shots through most of his innings yet managed to maintain a healthy run-rate, scoring 91 off 54.

Image Id: ~/media/91545624C1FC4BBFB7E84C039FC3D158Ajinkya Rahane plays a shot on his way to 91 // BCCI

When Karun Nair walked out to bat at three, there were a few who raised their eyebrows about Rajasthan’s choice, given Sanju Samson had hit a superb 76 in the previous game.

Nair proved his captain’s decision right.

He took his time to get going but finished with 61 from 38 balls as Rajasthan scored 2-189 from their 20 overs.

Delhi didn’t help their cause by their lacklustre fielding. The floodlights and the bumpy outfield made it difficult but they dropped many chances and conceded a string of extra runs on the field.

Coulter-Nile was coming off a career-best from the previous game, but went for 38 runs and only managed a wicket late in the innings. Sandhu shared the new ball with Zaheer, finishing 0-49 from his four.

With a hefty total to chase Delhi needed their openers to fire,  but Mayank Agarwal (11) and Shreyas Iyer (9) fell early.

Image Id: ~/media/F980FC3E08694B6CB706F126A1BF1088James Faulkner appeals for a wicket // BCCI

Yuvraj Singh looked promising early before being dismissed for 22, a wicket which also robbed the momentum from the Delhi chase.

Immediately after his wicket, Watson bowled a maiden and Faulkner conceded just five to send the required-rate spiralling to more than 13 an over.

JP Duminy and Angelo Mathews did not have many options and managed to carve out 29 from the next couple of overs, but Binny struck again to remove the Sri Lankan all-rounder, leaving Duminy with too much to do in too little time.

Image Id: ~/media/DE9EF02EBD3B490B9DEC581EDE0662F3JP Duminy bats for Delhi // BCCI

The skipper brought up his third half-century of the season, hitting a 39-ball 56 and Saurabh Tiwary (28 off 14) provided some late-order fireworks but they fell short of the Royals’ total.

The win takes Rajasthan to the top of the table with 14 points from 11 games, while Delhi remain sixth with eight points.