A slippery wicket and a sluggish outfield due to intermittent rain made it difficult for Delhi Daredevils to chase a revised but stiff target of 71 in six overs in the rain-hit Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Rajasthan Royals, said assistant coach Pravin Amre.
Rajasthan Royals was on course to post a competitive total but the heavy downpour restricted them to 153 for five in 17.5 ovrs.
Intermittent rain led to a two-and-a-half hour stoppage before umpires gave their go ahead for a shortened game.
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Royals’ innings eventually ended at 153 for five and Delhi was set a revised target of 71 runs in six overs as per Duckworth-Lewis method.
“The wicket was slippery and batsmen could not stand on it. The nature of the wicket also changed a lot because some of the moisture had seeped under the covers and outfield was also sluggish making difficult to get the boundaries,” said former Test cricketer Amre.
“We had to continue because it was the decision of the officials. Many a things come into play in such situations; we have to think about the poor spectators who kept on waiting for more than two and half hours for the match to start again. It was not into our hands but the conditions were difficult for us,” he added.
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Amre said they expected a smaller target but overall he was happy with the team effort.
“We were hoping a target of 62 in five overs but it became more difficult with 71 in six overs. Our batsman had to go for big shots because it was a stiff target,” said Amre.
“Sometimes you get your shots in and sometimes not but I am happy that our boys did a good job by restricting the hosts to 153 for 5 on a wicket which was good to bat on. We will go back and rethink our strategy because we have lost our opening matches,” he added.
Royals batsman Rahul Tripathi, however, didn’t feel there was any major change in the nature of the playing surface.
“There is always a little change as the moisture seeps to the wicket under the covers but I feel there was no major change. As far as the question of it being slippery I was mostly fielding in the deep so I can’t comment on it,” said Rahul.
“It is good to post a victory and it would have felt bad had we lost this outing. We were in a good position even before the rain interruption. We were five down for 153 in 17.5 overs. With more than two overs remaining at that point of time, we had a chance to reach 170 -180 which could be a good total,” he added.
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