IPL: RPS Achieve 19-Run Win Via D/L Method To Dent DD's Play-Off Hopes

Adam Zampa and Ashok Dinda shone with the ball by grabbing three wickets apiece before Ajinkya Rahane hit an unbeaten 42 as Rising Pune Supergiants beat Delhi Daredevils by 19 runs under Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-interrupted IPL match in Vizag on Tuesday.

Leg-spinner Zampa (3/21) and pacer Dinda (3/20) led a disciplined bowling display for Pune to restrict the Daredevils to a meagre 121 for 6 and later opener Rahane led the batting charge with 42 not out as the "home" side won the match.

Rahane hit five fours and a six in his 36-ball knock to anchor the innings as Rising Pune Supergiants reached 76 for one in 11 overs before the umpires called off play after second rain interruption at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.

At the first rain interruption, Pune were 57 for 1 in 8.2 overs with Rahane on 26 and George Bailey on 6. They returned after a rain break of around an hour and they were to get their full quota of 20 overs.

But rain came back again after playing another two overs and four deliveries. Rahane and Bailey added 19 runs in those 16 deliveries. Rahane added 16 runs for himself as he hit a four and a six off Mohammed Shami to take Pune ahead before the second rain break stopped play.

As rain continued persistently, the match was called off after a wait of around 15 minutes with RPS ahead of the par score of 57 by 19 runs.

The win did not change anything for RPS, who are already out of reckoning for a play-offs berth, apart from the addition of two more points to their earlier six, except that they are now in the seventh spot ahead of Kings XI Punjab.

For Daredevils, the loss will make it more difficult for them to book a play-offs berth as they remained at sixth spot with 12 points from 12 matches.

They will now need to win both their remaining matches --against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore --to have a chance for making it to the play-offs.

Rising Pune Supergiants made a brisk start in their run chase and reached 30 for no loss at the end of the third over with Usman Khawaja (19) hitting four boundaries in his 13-ball knock before he sliced straight to backward point fielder Shreyas Iyer in the fourth over.

The scoring rate slowed down a bit but Pune still were in a comfortable position as they reached 44 for one at the end of powerplay overs with Ajinkya Rahane and George Bailey settling down

Earlier, Zampa and Dinda shared the spoils by grabbing three wickets each as Pune produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict Daredevils to 121 for six.

Put into bat, the Daredevils struggled to get the runs throughout their innings and lost wickets at regular intervals to end their innings with a meagre total.

Zampa (3/21) and Dinda (3/20) led the Pune bowling charge with brilliant spells to stifle Daredevils for runs. The Daredevils did not have any partnership worth the name, the highest being 28 for the unbroken seventh wicket stand between Chris Morris (38 not out) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (2 not out).

Had it not been the 22 runs Morris took from Thisara Perera in the last over by hitting two fours and two sixes, the Daredevils total would have been much smaller.

One-down Karun Nair top-scored with a 43-ball 41 and along with Morris, he was the only other Daredevils batsman who gave a semblance of a fight.

Dinda gave Pune the first breakthrough in the third over by dismissing Quinton de Kock (2) as his delivery swung back to hit the batsman in front of the middle stump and the umpire had an easy call.

Shreyas Iyer (8) was sent back to the pavilion by Dinda in the fourth over as the batsman miscued a well-directed bouncer to deep square leg fielder Usman Khawaja.

Runs were hard to come by for Daredevils as they could hit just five boundaries in the first 10 overs. Their woes were compounded as they lost the wicket of Sanju Samson (10) in the last ball of the 10th over bowled by Zampa.

Zampa's legbreak drew Samson forward and ripped past the outside edge for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to execute a simple stumping to leave Daredevils reeling at 49 for 3 at the halfway stage.

Zampa struck again in the 13th over as Rishab Pant attempted an across-the-line slog but the away-moving delivery took the outside edge of the batsman for long-off fielder Thisara Perera to take the catch.

The Australian leg-spinner had his third wicket two overs later as his spinning delivery beat Nair and hit him in front of off-stump. His 41 had five fours. J P Duminy out in the 19th over as he scooped straight to short fine leg fielder Irfan Pathan of the bowling of Dinda.