New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) Skipper Shreyas Iyer and stumper Rishabh Pant smashed rollicking half centuries to power Delhi Daredevils to a massive 196/6 in 17.1 overs against Rajasthan Royals in a rain-truncated Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Ferozshah Kotla here on Wednesday.
Pant (69 off 29 balls; 4x7, 6x5) and Iyer (50 off 35; 4x3, 6x3) capitalised on a brilliant start by teenaged sensation Prithvi Shaw (47 off 25 balls; 4x4, 6x4) as Delhi overcame the early loss of opener Colin Munro in the opening over.
After heavy rain delayed the start of play by one and a half hours, resulting in the match being reduced to 18 overs a side, pacer Dhawal Kulkarni provided the visitors a perfect start with the wicket of the Kiwi, caught behind on a duck.
Rajasthan's ploy of opting to field after winning the toss, was however soon dismissed by the 18-year-old Prithvi, who combined with his skipper to smoke 73 runs for the second wicket in mere 40 balls.
Shaw started off by clobbering Kulkarni for two sixes and a four before picking this IPL's costliest buy Jaydev Unadkat for two fours and a six off consecutive balls as the Rajasthan bowlers failed to stop the onslaught. Iyer soon joined the party, belting leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal for two consecutive sixes even after Prithvi fell to a simple caught and bowled effort from the same bowler.
The dismissal of the diminutive right-hander brought in Pant, who started off with a massive six off Gopal before sending the other Rajasthan bowlers to the leather hunt even as the third wicket partnership with Iyer flourished to 92 runs off 43 balls.
Iyer perished to Unadkat one ball after bringing up his half century in 34 balls even as Pant continued his onslaught to bring up his sixth IPL half century in 23 deliveries as Delhi looked set for a massive total.
Unadkat struck once again in the same over with the wicket of Pant, who became this IPL's highest run-getter, before completing his spell with the scalp of Vijay Shankar, who struck a 6-ball 17.
Australian Glenn Maxwell's (5) poor run with the bat continued even as a slight drizzle once again halted the proceedings one ball into the final over of the innings.
But with the rain again playing spoilsport, the second innings was curtailed to 12 overs with Rajasthan needing 151 runs.
Brief Scores: Delhi Daredevils 196/6 (Rishabh Pant 69, Shreyas Iyer 50, Prithvi Shaw 47; Jaydev Unadkat 3/46) vs Rajasthan Royals.
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