- Shamser Khalid
Cheeky Moment Shared from RR Dressing Room
In a recent match between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals, the Royals emerged victorious, thanks to the impressive leadership skills of their skipper, Sanju Samson. During the dressing room speech, coach Kumar Sangakkara praised Samson for his captaincy.
"Skipper, really, well captained today. It was brilliant to see how you marshaled the bowlers, and the decisions you took. You were not afraid to do it. I thought that was exceptional. Really well done," Sangakkara said during the speech.
However, Samson cheekily reminded Sangakkara of his catch during the speech. The former Sri Lanka captain, then, hurriedly said, "Sorry, forgot the catch. Fantastic catch. Brilliant," leaving everyone in splits.
Samson's one-handed catch was one of the highlights of the match. The Royals' skipper dived to his left to take the catch after Shaw's angular cross-batted shot found a thick outside edge.
Details Behind the Catch
During the match, Samson had dived to his right to take the catch in the air and remove DC opener, Prithvi Shaw. With the catch, Samson proved that he is one of the best wicket-keepers in Indian cricket. With the wicket of Shaw, Trent Boult continued his dominance in the powerplay by removing Manish Pandey on the very next ball of the game.
In the first innings, Rajasthan Royals scored a massive 199/4 in 20 overs, thanks to half-centuries from openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler. The opening partnership between Jaiswal and Buttler was unbreakable, as the duo continued to deal with boundaries, scoring 50 runs without losing any wickets in just four overs. Jaiswal brought up his fifty with a boundary off Axar Patel in the second last ball of the seventh over, scoring 50 off just 25 balls.
DC finally managed to break the opening partnership in the eighth over when Jaiswal was dismissed for 60 runs off 31 balls by right-arm medium bowler Mukesh Kumar. However, Buttler continued to score runs freely, reaching his second half-century of IPL 2023 in just 32 balls, with seven fours and a six.
Rajasthan Royals finished their innings at 199/4, with Hetymer hitting a six on the first ball of the final over bowled by Anrich Nortje. It was an impressive batting performance by Rajasthan Royals, setting a challenging target for Delhi Capitals to chase.
Mukesh Kumar was the leading bowler for Delhi Capitals, taking 2/36 in his four overs, while Kuldeep Yadav and Rovman Powell got a wicket each. Despite their efforts, DC was unable to chase down the target and eventually lost the match by 57 runs.
Results of the Match
After the match, Samson expressed his happiness with the team's performance and admitted that almost everything went as planned. He also highlighted the importance of having experienced bowlers like Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin in the team, especially when dealing with wet balls.
With two wins in three matches, Rajasthan Royals are currently at the top of the IPL standings, with a Net Run Rate of +2.067. They now have two wins in three matches so far.
The side faced a narrow defeat against Punjab Kings by five runs earlier this week and had made a strong start to the season after it outclassed Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs in the opener. The Rajasthan Royals will be looking to continue their winning form in the upcoming matches.
