The Delhi Daredevils kept their hopes of an IPL playoff place alive when they beat the Rajasthan Royals by four runs in a rain-hit slog-fest.
The match was first reduced to 18 overs a side, then, after another. Rain delay, the Royals were offered a target of 152 off 12 overs.
Despite Jos Buttler smashing 67 off 26 balls, and D’Arcy Short adding 44 off 25, they lost three wickets for 26 runs which seriously undermined their cause. Still, Krishnappa Gowtham slapped 18 off six balls to take it to the wire.
Rajasthan Royals had elected to field even before the rain came down just after the toss.
At least that served to focus the mind in terms of getting the job done, and the Daredevils did that with alacrity. Despite the loss of Colin Munro to a golden duck in the first over, Prithvi Shaw (47 off 25) and Shreyas Iyer, captaining in place of the injured Chris Morris, added 73 in just under seven overs.
Iyer went on to 50 off 35 as the supporting act to the 20-year-old Rishabh Pant, who blasted his way to 69 off 29 balls, with seven fours and five sixes.
From a strike-rate point of view, Vijay Shankar won with 17 off six balls (283) as the Daredevils surged to 196-6 with five balls to go.
Then the rain came again.
The Daredevils climbed to sixth place with six points from nine matches, while the Royals slipped to seventh with six from eight.
