Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 31 (IANS) Dinesh Karthik hit a power-packed 69 as Delhi Daredevils snapped Rajasthan Royals’ four-match winning streak, beating them by 67 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Wednesday.
Karthik’s whirlwind 38-ball knock and skipper Gautam Gambhir’s 43 helped Daredevils get to a challenging total of 188 for six in 20 overs.

While chasing, Rajasthan Royals batsmen faltered right from the start and their innings folded in for 121 in 17.4 overs at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium. Leg spinner Amit Mishra picked up three for 25 and David Warner was outstanding on the field taking four catches and affecting one run out.

With their third consecutive win, Delhi moved to the second spot in the IPL with 10 points from eight matches while Rajasthan Royals are fourth with eight points from as many matches.

Opting to bat on a strip that was being used for the first time in the IPL Daredevils made a poor start by losing the first two wickets of the in-form David Warner (4) and Virender Sehwag (19) for just 25 runs on board.

Gambhir during his 37-ball stay did the repair act as Delhi lost another two quick wickets in Paul Collingwood (16) and Kedar Jadhav (10), who was surprisingly sent ahead of Karthik.

Karthik was padded up and after Collingwood fell he started to walk in, but was sent back as the team management opted for the young Jadhav. It was a short wait for Karthik in the dug out and once he stepped in, he was simply unstoppable. He slapped Shane Warne for a crisp four through the covers to set the tone for his innings, during which he struck six fours and four sixes.

Karthik added 79 runs with Gambhir for the fifth wicket and came down hard on fast bowler Shaun Tait in the last five overs during which Delhi smashed 68 runs.

Karthik spanked Tait for three consecutive fours in the 18th over and in the last hit the Australian for a six and a four as the bowler ended up giving 53 runs from his four overs.

Rajasthan Royals were off to a disastrous start with medium pacer Farveez Maharoof picking up opener Michael Lumb and Faiz Fazal in the first over with just one run on board.

Naman Ojha (27) on the other end played a valiant knock and spanked Maharoof for a six and four in consecutive deliveries in the third over. Mishra also suffered the same fury as Ojha slapped the leg-spinner for two consecutive fours, but Mishra had the last laugh dismissing the batsman in the next ball caught behind by Karthik.

Yusuf Pathan came up with a cameo hitting two fours and two sixes in his 14-ball 24 but his efforts were not enough as Daredevils romped home to their fifth win in the IPL.