Another double header today. As expected, Delhi Daredevils beat Bangalore Royal Challengers, but not quite the way they would have liked. The Bangalore bowlers put up a stiff resistance before giving it away in the final overs. With enough wickets in hand, Delhi were able to raise their game and win with a few balls to spare. Bangalore’s batting continues to disappoint and with a single win from five matches and with little improvement in form, their tournament seems about to end.
The bowling of Rajasthan Royals continues to impress as they restricted Kings XI Punjab to a gettable 139, but another batting slump put them in the same zip code as Bangalore. With 3 points from 4 games, they are now second last. They have serious batting problems especially with the opening pair. Instead of a calm chase, too many batsmen threw away their wickets and at one point, Rajasthan threatened to beat their previous low against Bangalore. Whatever momentum they had gained against Kolkata has been lost. They are not yet as much in the doldrums as Bangalore, but they have to start turning things very quickly.
The only thing saving Rajasthan has been the erratic form of all the other teams and the rain factor which killed two matches and was partly responsible for Punjab losing their initial matches. With five teams at 3 and 4 points, teams that can turn around their form still have a chance. Tomorrow’s match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians assumes greater significance. If Mumbai lose, that continues to keep everyone on the same level. Now, if they can just stop the runaway trains of Deccan and Delhi.