Establishing their supremacy in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, the Delhi Capitals walloped the Rajasthan Royals to wake them up to harsh reality after a dream come true win over the Punjab Kings in their last game.
Albeit the margin of win for the Delhi Capitals were limited to 33 runs but it was more a reflection of the batting conditions at Abu Dhabi than their dominance as the Royals were more or less out of the game halfway through the second innings.
Here, we’ll analyse the best performances that turned the tide in the Capitals’ favour along with some under-par performances that limited both the Royals and the Capitals in a vital mid-tournament clash.
Hits
Anrich Nortje
When the Capitals had paired Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje in the last edition of the IPL, it was more of a forced-choice after Chris Woakes had pulled himself out of the tournament.
If the Capitals were told that they were on to building something special and that would make them a side to beat over the course of the next many games, they would laugh it off. However, they will have to realise it and would love to pat themselves on their back for asking the Proteas duo to unleash all their fire and pace on opposition batting lineups.
Nortje has had a stellar run for the Capitals and his love affairs with the pitches of the UAE continued in the ongoing edition. He was on the money from the word go to derail the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last game and the trend continued when he sent an enterprising Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had held the Royals batting order like a glue, back to the pavilion even before he could set his eyes in.
His jolt came after Avesh Khan dismissed Royal’s biggest match-winner with the bat in Liam Livingstone and hence his wicket of Jaisawal put them on the back foot right from the start.
His first two overs yielded only seven runs and the pressure started to tell on other batsmen as David Miller ran out of patience and ran out of the crease against Ravichandran Ashwin to never come back to the crease.
By the time he was brought on for the second half of chase, the game was already slipping out of their Royal’s grasp albeit their hopes were alive in the form of Sanju Samson and Rahul Tewatia.
He closed that door as well by dismissing Tewatia, who was beaten for pace and found fine leg positioned perfectly for his swivel pull.
Nortje’s spell read 4-0-18-2 but the domino effect of his bowling on Royal’s fortunes and Capitals’ dominance should not be underestimated.
Shreyas Iyer
It has been tough for Shreyas Iyer this year but he is answering all the harsh calls and criticism with the bat.
The career has gone downhill for him since the time the Indian team management had a doubt about his place in the T20I side against Australia and the shoulder injury against England right before the IPL completed the circle of unfortunate moments and missed opportunities.
The IPL had to be another success story for him to stake a claim for a spot in India’s World T20 squad but the dislocated shoulder denied him that opportunity.
Now, as the IPL has come back from the Covid scare, he too is back to do what he does the best for the Capitals, albeit being a leader of the side.
In the game against the Royals, the Capitals found themselves in a precarious situation after the loss of both Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw. Iyer, for a long time, has been blamed for batting like an “anchor” and throwing caution into the winds but the game situation demanded such carefulness from him.
However, as soon as he got the pace of the pitch the fluent run-scorer was back with crisp shots off-spinners. He has been known for his brutal game against the spinners and all of that was on display when he started toying with the spin twins of the Royals.
He was playing with the minds of both spinners and played them superbly both off the back and front foot. He was picking the number one T20I bowler Tabraiz Shamsi from his hand and was picking the areas to hit instead of reading it off the pitch and playing a guessing game.
He was lured into driving by Rahul Tewatia and although he tried all his best to drag his foot inside the crease, he went back to the pavilion.
His wicket fell at the most wrong time for the Capitals but thankfully for him and the side, Shimron Hetmyer stood up with his firepower and provided them with momentum to ensure they went past the 150-run mark.
Ravichandran Ashwin
While the pace battery of the Capitals attracts a lot of headlines more often than not, there’s one man who has been in headlines in the recent past albeit not due to his performance but his selection and non-selection.
Earlier last month, he was in the headlines for his non-selection into the Indian Test team against England and later it was his selection in the World T20 squad that attracted quite a bit of attention.
However, the bowling was to be done and the second phase of the IPL is the perfect place for him to justify his selection.
The game against the Royals was a dream situation for any spinner having been asked to bowl in the middle phase. The opening balling pair of Avesh Khan and Nortje had sent the openers back and the Royals middle order was in search of runs after silent first few overs.
He also got a left-hander in David Miller to bowl at and he enticed him straightaway into playing a big shot. Miller obliged but only to miss the ball completely and allowing Rishabh Pant an easy stumping chance.
Another left-hander Mahipal Lomror reluctantly tried to break the shackles against him but his immense control and mastery over bowling in such conditions made him unhittable.
Later, in his final over, he flummoxed Samson and denied him any scoring opportunities when the Royals skipper was in desperate search of runs. His 3-run over in the 13th over of the game more or less pushed the Royals away from the path of victory and set up a perfect platform for the pacers to complete a convincing win.
Ashwin would be delighted to get on top of his bowling prowess in the shortest format and his control will give a lot of heart to the Indian think tank and fans for the marquee global event that will follow the IPL 2021.
Flops
Liam Livingstone
There are not many things that have gone in the favour of the Royals this season but the form of Liam Livingstone certainly looked like a welcome sign for them ahead of the second phase of IPL 2021. However, the promise of blitzkrieg has been ruined to pale dismissals and the right-hander has struggled to carry his extraordinary form from the Hundred and international cricket to IPL.
Earlier, he had withdrawn from the tournament citing bubble fatigue and the development had came as shock to the Royals after the absence of Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes.
The men in pink started the second phase also without Jos Buttler and hence Livingstone had to be their best batting star if they were to dare to turn things around in the second half.
The Royals suffered another setback as Evin Lewis, who started his journey with them on a promising note in the last game missed the Capitals challenge. Suffering from lack of options, the Royals tried to maximise his potential by sending him at the top of the order to make a light work of the chase of 156 runs.
What they got in return was another lackadaisical outing for the right-hander. He could not get the pace and bounce of the pitch and Avesh Khan got him with a one that bounced a bit more than he anticipated while dancing down the track and the team suffered the same fate that they have been suffering at the hands of international stars who shine bright in all tournaments except when playing for them.
David Miller
If all of the England stars such as Stokes, Archer and Buttler would have been there in the UAE, the Royals would not have been playing David Miller, who appears to be batting past his prime. He is playing in the IPL more on the basis of past laurel than contemporary promises.
On the day against the Capitals, the Royals needed him to bat smartly against the wiliest bowler from the opposition camp. The chase was not out of their grapes in terms of required runs but the early wickets made things tough for them.
After the first four overs, the Royals were just 17/2 and Pant asked his talisman against left-hander—R Ashwin to roll his arm over as soon as Miller walked out to bat.
The Pant-Ashwin partnership threw dice at him and defying all his game sense and wisdom of experience, he danced down the track to hit the toughest bowler to hit for him at the start of the innings. There was no way he could have timed his jump and shot in the face of a delayed and slower delivery from Ashwin and was left embarrassed out of the crease while Pant was whipping the bails off.
With the win, the Capitals are all but qualified for the playoff phase of the tournament and the Royals have suffered another setback and may well be a stumbling block in the path for qualification to the final four.