Delhi Capitals (DC) are truly alive in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 56th match of the tournament kept them in the hunt for the top four spots in the league.
The match between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals took place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Tuesday (May 7). Rishabh Pant’s team put in a great effort with bat and ball and ensured they won their sixth game of the tournament.
Delhi Capitals (DC) were asked to bat first and made a glorious start to their innings. Jake Fraser-McGurk (50) once again oozed class with the bat at the top and slammed a brutal half-century. Abishek Porel (65) also made a vital contribution with the bat at the top as the Rajasthan Royals bowlers were under pressure.
Even though Delhi Capitals lost wickets after that, Tristan Stubbs made sure to lead his team to a big total. The South African batsman scored 20 quick runs. Based on the top-order blitz and a cameo from Stubbs, he ultimately powered the team to a total of 221 runs.
With the ball, Delhi Capitals started well enough as Khaleel Ahmed took the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal on the second ball of the innings before Axar Patel sent Jos Buttler packing for 17 runs at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Delhi Capitals bowlers came under pressure as Sanju Samson (86) was making big guns. The Rajasthan Royals captain played a vital hand for his team and the way he batted, it looked like he would win the game easily for his team.
However, the home team recovered incredibly well. Kuldeep Yadav picked 2 wickets in the 18th over and that almost sealed the game for his team. They restricted Rajasthan Royals to a total of 201 runs and won the game by 20 runs to win their sixth game of the tournament.
Delhi Capitals qualification scenario for IPL 2024 playoffs
The win against Rajasthan Royals was Delhi Capitals’ sixth win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. It took them to fifth place in the points table. The Rishabh Pant-led team has 12 points from 12 games and also has an NRR of -0.316 along with 6 losses under their belt.
The Delhi Capitals are very much in contention for the playoffs. To have a chance of being among the top four in the table, they need to win the remaining two matches of the tournament by large margins. This will take them to 16 points and that could be enough to seal the top 4 spot.
Even after getting 16 points, they might miss out because Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) can reach 16 points if they win two of their remaining three games. Therefore, to qualify, Delhi Capitals would hope that two of the three teams mentioned above lose their games to make the path easy.
If all teams tie on 16 points, then Delhi Capitals may miss out as SRH (-0.065) and CSK (+0.700) have a better NRR. Therefore, the Rishabh Pant-led team must ensure that they win their last 2 games by huge margins.