A matured effort with bat and ball from Mitchell Marsh helped Delhi Capitals defeat Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the DY Patil Stadium on Wednesday.
Marsh bowled with discipline and shepherded his team along for the most part during the run chase as Capitals notched up their sixth win in the competition.
After a lacklustre performance three days ago, Capitals improved in all facets of the game. Marsh’s efforts with the ball were supported by the other seamers and a much-improved Kuldeep Yadav. While batting, Marsh found an able ally in fellow Australian David Warner.
Capitals began their innings shakily after being set a target of 161, S. Bharat departing without scoring in the first over, falling to the probing Trent Boult. Marsh, the No. 3 batter, started hitting sixes regularly to try to keep his side abreast with the required run-rate. He was particularly successful with his lofted strokes off full or length deliveries, and the pull strokes off short ones. Kuldeep Sen and Yuzvendra Chahal bore the brunt of his ire.
Warner was solid but quiet at the other end, opening up only towards the business end of the innings. Both batters enjoyed a bit a luck.
With nine wickets in the bag, Capitals decided after the 15th over that it was time to accelerate. Ravichandran Ashwin and Boult were pulled repeatedly as 30 runs were taken off two overs. Marsh departed, before Rishabh Pant provided the finishing touches.
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The Royals’ bowlers weren’t up to the mark, but their batting didn’t flop. Devdutt Padikkal (48, 30b, 6x4, 2x6) and Ashwin (50, 38b, 4x4, 2x6) toiled through some probing spells by Capitals’ bowlers to enable their team to put up a fighting total.
Ashwin gave the impetus with the bat early on, playing some lovely orthodox strokes for boundaries. He was prepared to use his feet to the spinners, too.
Ashwin and Padikkal added 53 runs in six overs for the third wicket. Padikkal batted patiently before hitting two sixes off Axar in the 13th over. He then went on the offensive against Shardul and Marsh. It took an excellent catch in the deep from substitute Kamlesh Nagarkoti to get him out. Nagarkoti dived in front at deep square leg after the batter had pulled Nortje.
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