In Pics: Riyan Parag's blinder helps Rajasthan Royals to 2nd consecutive win at home, beat Delhi Capitals by 12 runs

Riyan Parag smashed an unbeaten 84 off 45 balls, almost single-handedly bailing Rajasthan Royals out of a disastrous start batting first and helping them record their second consecutive win of the season at home. RR beat the Delhi Capitals by 12 runs, restricting them to a score of 173/5 in reply to 185/5.

Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar strangled the Royals in the powerplay. RR were reduced to 36 for 3 in the eighth over.

It was Ravichandran Ashwin who provided the initial impetus to the RR innings. Parag shared 54 and 52 runs respectively with Ravichandran Ashwin (29) and Dhruv Jurel (20).

Parag then made his presence felt, striking two boundaries and a six off Ahmed to take RR past 100 in the 15th over. Parag then took 25 runs off South African pacer Anrich Nortje with hits of 4, 4, 6, 4, 6, 1 in the final over to hit his highest T20 score.

DC were reduced to 34 for 2 in the fourth over with Burger taking two wickets in three balls in a fine display of fast bowling. Burger, who was brought in as Impact Sub for Shimron Hetmyer, dismissed opener Mitchell Marsh (23 off 12 balls) and Ricky Bhui (0) in the fourth over.

Warner and Pant were involved in a crucial 67-run partnership for the third wicket. Playing in his 100th IPL match and 14 months after a horrible car crash, Pant tried to build the innings with occasional boundaries. But he got out for a 26-ball 28 as Chahal induced a faint lower edge for Sanju Samson to do the rest behind the stumps in the 14th over. The asking rate shot up to more than 13 runs an over and DC needed 66 from the last five overs. Stubbs kept DC in the game with two consecutive sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin in the 17th over, but in the end the Delhi side were short by 12 runs.

They needed 34 runs from the final two overs which they could not get. It was DC’s second consecutive loss.

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