Bowlers script Delhi Capitals' 33-run win over Rajasthan Royals
Abu Dhabi, Sep 25: Delhi Capitals bowlers made up for the team's underwhelming display with the bat to hand Rajasthan Royals a 33-run defeat in their Indian Premier League match, here on Saturday.
The Capitals bowling unit restricted the Royals to 121 for six after the team put on board 154 for six on the back of Shreyas Iyer's 43 and a late flourish provided by Shimron Hetmyer, who scored 28 runs off 16 balls.
Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson looked in sublime touch, scoring an unbeaten 70, but with wickets tumbling at regular intervals from the other end, the Royals innings failed to get the momentum it needed.
South African pacer Anrich Nortje (2/18) led the Delhi bowlers who performed as a cohesive unit. Avesh Khan (1/29), Kagiso Rabada (1/26), Axar Patel (1/27), Ravichandran Ashwin (1/20) snapped a wicket each.
With the win the Capitals returned to the top of the table while the Royals moved down to the sixth spot.
Defending a modest total, pacers Khan and Nortje provided the electric start that the Capitals needed, sending back both openers -- Liam Livingstone (1) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (5) in the first two overs.
Skipper Rishabh Pant made a bowling change by bringing in Ashwin and the senior Indian spinner got rid of the dangerous David Miller (7) to leave the Royals tottering at 17 for 3.
With the required run rate increasing, Rajasthan needed 107 runs in the last 10 over.
Samson and young Mahipal Lomror (19) seemed to be reviving the innings but the ever-reliant Rabada nipped the partnership in the bud.
Riyan Parag (2) and Rahul Tewatia (9) couldn't provide a valuable contribution either.
Samson was going strong, hitting boundaries at will but the Delhi bowlers came back strongly.
Earlier, the Royals pacers -- led by Mustafizur Rahman (2/22), Chetan Sakariya (2/33) and Kartik Tyagi (1/40) -- shared five wickets while spin all-rounder Rahul Tewatia (1/17) dismissed one batsman.
Tyagi, the star of the match against Punjab Kings, drew first blood with his very first delivery in the fourth over, cleaning up Orange Cap holder Shikhar Dhawan (8).
The Delhi opener looked to play a good length delivery but the ball rolled back to hit the timber.
Prithvi Shaw (10) soon followed his opening partner back to the dugout, slicing the ball off Sakariya to Liam Livingstone at mid-off.
At the end of the powerplay, the Capitals were precariously placed at 36 runs for the loss of two wickets.
With spin introduced in the seventh over Shreyas Iyer (43 off 32 balls) and skipper Rishabh Pant (24 off 24 balls) started to repair the damage caused by the loss of the openers.
The duo, who stitched a 62-run partnership, kept the scoreboard ticking, while also hitting the occasional boundaries at the huge Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
The stylish Iyer then hit the first maximum of the match over long off in the 10th over off left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (0/34).
As the two Delhi batters found their footing, Rahman was brought back into the attack and the move immediately paid dividends as Pant, looking to hook the ball away, ended up getting an under edge.
Samson then showed his skills with gloves to stump Iyer, who failed to stretch his back foot inside the crease as wicket continued to tumble at regular intervals.
Shimron Hetmyer, who was striking the ball well, then upped the ante, hitting three boundaries off Tyagi to plunder 16 runs in the 16th over.
The big-hitting West Indian, who hit five fours, scored a brisk 28 off 16 balls.
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3 US troops killed, 5 seriously wounded during Iran attacks, military says
Washington (AP): Three American service members have been killed and five others seriously wounded during the US attacks on Iran, the military said Sunday, marking the first American casualties in a major offensive that has sparked retaliation from the Islamic Republic.
US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, announced the deaths in a post on X but did not say when and where they occurred. The statement said “several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions” and were going to return to duty.
Central Command described the situation “as fluid” and said it would withhold the identities of the service members who were killed for 24 hours after their families were notified.
The US military also denied Iranian claims that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was struck with ballistic missiles, saying on X that the “missiles launched didn't even come close.”
President Donald Trump had warned that American troops could be killed or injured in the operation.
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” the Republican president said in a video address released early Saturday. “That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future.”
Following the US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other leaders, Iran's counterattacks have struck US bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever targeting Israeli and American military installations.
Before the strikes, Trump had built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades. The arrival of the Lincoln and three accompanying guided-missile destroyers at the end of January bolstered the number of warships in the region.
The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers later were dispatched from the Caribbean Sea to head to the Middle East.
The Ford was part of the US raid in Venezuela that captured leader Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges. The operation in January claimed no American lives but left seven US troops with gunshot wounds and shrapnel-related injuries.
One of those injured received the Medal of Honor during Trump's State of the Union address last week. Trump said Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover piloted the lead CH-47 Chinook helicopter that descended on the “heavily protected military fortress” where Maduro was staying.
Trump has launched several military operations during his second term, including strikes on members of the Islamic State group in Syria in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter in December.
The US military has also struck IS forces in Nigeria, after Trump accused the West African country's government of failing to rein in the targeting of Christians.
