Following his explosive knock of 84 not out off 45 balls, Rajasthan Royals batter Riyan Parag has made a big jump to now be placed second in the Orange Cap standings for IPL 2024 with 127 runs. Heinrich Klaasen of South Africa however still holds the Orange Cap as he leads the charts with 143 runs. Former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli is at No. 3, with 98 runs, followed by Sanju Samson at fourth place with 97. At the fifth position is SRH No. 3 batter Abhishek Sharma, whose belligerent innings against MI helped him muster 95 runs from two innings.
Parag’s innings led Rajasthan Royals to a 12-run win over Delhi Capitals in the IPL on Thursday. Royals’ second straight victory continued the early trend of home teams dominating in the lucrative T20 league. Visiting teams have lost all nine games this season. Parag, who smashed six sixes and seven boundaries, anchored Rajasthan to 185/5 after Rishabh Pant won the toss in his 100th IPL game and elected to field.
Here’s how the Orange Cap table looks as on March 29, 2024:
Delhi struggled against spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (2/19) in the middle overs before being restricted to 173-5 despite Tristan Stubbs (44 not out) counterattacking in the death overs. Rajasthan ran into early trouble inside the batting power play when Yashasvi Jaiswal was clean bowled by Mukesh Kumar and Jos Buttler was out leg before wicket attempting a reverse sweep against wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
Rajasthan’s start
Fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed then reduced Rajasthan to 36/3 when he had skipper Sanju Samson caught behind in the eighth over before Ravichandran Ashwin, promoted to No. 5, revived the innings with a cameo of 29 off 19 balls with Parag. Parag then took charge against Delhi’s pace bowler Anrich Nortje (1/48) and Kumar (1/49) as Rajasthan plundered 77 runs in the last five overs.
Parag hammered South African Nortje for 25 runs in the last over that included three fours and two sixes while Kumar conceded 30 off his last two overs. Australian pair of David Warner (49) and Mitchell Marsh (23) provided Delhi a rollicking start with Marsh smashing five boundaries before Nandre Burger’s twin strikes pulled things back for Rajasthan.
Burger clean bowled Marsh with a pacey swinging delivery before Ricky Bhui couldn’t get out of the way from a quick bouncer that brushed his gloves and Samson took a straightforward catch behind the wickets. Sharma then held onto a spectacular catch at short third man to deny Warner a half-century while Pant showed brief signs of aggression before edging Chahal to Samson.
With 61 needed off the final four overs, Stubbs smashed three sixes and two boundaries, but Avesh bowled a brilliant last over for only four runs.
[ad_2]