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Betting scandal: CSK, Rajasthan Royals suspended for two years from IPL

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Meiyappan-Kundra

New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings, the most consistent team in the IPL, and Rajasthan Royals were today suspended from the cash-rich cricket league for two years for betting activities of their key officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra during the 2013 season.

The punishment was handed down by a Supreme Court- appointed three-member committee headed by former CJI R M Lodha which held that the betting activities of the two officials, Meiyappan, considered the face of CSK owners, and Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals, have brought the game of cricket, BCCI and IPL into disrepute.

The Committee also imposed sanctions including life suspensions for Meiyappan and Kundra from being involved in any cricket matches conducted by BCCI.

The Comnmitte was constituted by the Supreme Court in January this year with oits terms of reference being to announve the quantum of punioshment against Meiyappan, Kundra and the two franchisees — India Cements Ltd, owner of CSK and Jaipur IPL, owner of Rajasthan Royals.

Addressing the media after pronouncing their verdict, the three-member committee was asked whether they have contemplated action IPL COO Sundar Raman, who was also accused of wrongdoing.

suspended 1

Justice Lodha said it will be some time before his fate is decided.

“About Sundar Raman, we examined the material about him and we believe it requires further investigation. Vivek Priyadarshi has been appointed by the Supreme Court to look into it and he is examining the matter, we are awaiting his report. After that we will decide what will be the action,” he said.

The committee said its observations with respect to the much-talked about conflict of interest in the BCCI would be given after completing interactions with various stakeholders of the game.

“Conflict of interest questions have been raised, once we complete the process of interacting with all the stakeholders, we will take a view on that. That exercise is not complete. This order is confined to determining the quantum of punishment to the two individuals and the franchises,” he said.

“We have interacted with 40-45 people, we are yet to meet a few others. Once that is done we will decide what guidelines are to be given.

Our idea is to get inputs from all stakeholders. It is not confined to cricket administrators and politicians,” he added.

He also refused to comment on the criminal cases pending against the suspended officials, saying, “No aspect touching criminal liability has been decided by us.”

suspended 1

On whether the two franchisees would be allowed to participate in case their is a change in ownership, Justice Lodha that aspect is for the BCCI to decide.

“This question was brought to us. But the BCCI has to take a call and whatever the legal course is there, it is available. You must appreciate that we cannot address every aspect of the matter,” he said.

Asked whether the committee took a considered view of the impact this ruling will have on the players attached with the two suspended franchises, Justice Lodha said the game is bigger than the individuals.

“Players will not be attached to a franchisee which has been suspended. We thought that if cricket is bigger than individuals then financial loss to players and franchises is not of significance,” he said.

(Agencies)

Rajasthan knocked out, RCB set up clash with CSK

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Royal-Challengers-Bangalore

Pune: An allround performance propelled Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to an emphatic 71 run victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) eliminator as the latter crashed out of the tournament here on Wednesday.

In reply to RCB’s formidable 180/4, the Royals were bundled out for a paltry 109 in 19 overs.

RCB now play Chennai Super Kings in the qualifier 2, with the winner facing Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens in the May 24 final.

Ajinkya Rahane ploughed a lonely furrow for the Royals with a 39-ball 42, as none of the other batsmen came up with any notable contribution, as Sreenath Aravind, Harshal Patel, David Wiese and Yuzvendra Chahal picked up two wickets each for RCB.

Rajasthan were jolted early in their innings as inform batting allrounder Shane Watson (10) got out cheaply followed by the talented youngster Sanju Samson (5) who edged it to the keeper off a Harshal Patel delivery.

They could only manage to reach 40/2 in the powerplay as the willowers found it quite difficult playing the shots on the two paced strip.

Skipper Steve Smith (12), however, tried to anchor the innings but just as the Australian was getting into the groove, he lofted one straight down the throat of AB de Villiers at sweeper cover.

At the end of 10 overs, Rajasthan were reeling at 68/3.

The wickets kept on tumbling as the Royals felt the scoreboard pressure with the asking rate going up after every dot ball.

Rahane perished in the deep while Australian allrounder James Faulkner (4) was out caught and bowled by Sreenath Aravind after he managed to squeeze one up in the air off his boots.

From 55/3 in 8.1 overs, the Royals collpased to 95/8 in the 16th over, as the innings never got going.

Earlier in the day, de Villiers top scored for RCB with a 38-ball 66, while Mandeep with his unbeaten knock of 54 from 34 balls was the other major contributor as the duo put together a 113-run partnership.

Choosing to bat on a two paced wicket, RCB were off to a steady start as both openers Chris Gayle (27) and Virat Kohli cautiously negotiated the bowlers who kept hurling at an impeccable line and length.

But both Gayle and Kohli fell in quick succession and thereafter youngster Mandeep helped RCB reach 60/2 at the halfway stage after runs were down to a trickle.

However, de Villiers who had been quietly picking up the ones and twos, finally broke the shackles as he clobbered left arm spinner Ankit Sharma for 19 runs in the 15th over, in turn bringing up the 100 for his side.

Mandeep joined in the act as the duo cruised along on high gears notching 37 from the next 18 balls, which included two huge sixes from de Villiers off Chris Morris in the 18th over.

Though the South African got run out, Mandeep ensured they had a formidable total on the scoreboard.

For the Royals, Dhawal Kulkarni (2/28) was the pick of the bowlers.

(IANS)

RCB, Royals face off in IPL Eliminator

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Royal-Challengers-Bangalore

Pune: A battle royale is on the cards when Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) lock horns with Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator to be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association International Stadium here on Wednesday.

The team which ends up second on the day will have to bid farewell to the eighth edition of the tournament and wait for another year to campaign for the coveted trophy.

The winner will face-off against the loser of Qualifier 1 — to be played in Mumbai on Tuesday — which will be either two-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) or 2013 winners Mumbai Indians — who have had an amazing turnaround in fortunes this season.

For both RCB and the Royals, the next game would be a distant thought as first they have to outdo each other in one of the fiercest contests of this summer with both teams boasting of immense firepower.

Speaking of batting, it came to the forefront for both teams in their last encounters of the league stage where the Royals had the better of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and RCB blasted away a formidable challenge from the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The last game for the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers against the Delhi Daredevils was a washout.

Against the Knights, it was Australian all-rounder Shane Watson who stood strong for the Royals, clubbing his way to an unconquered 104 off just 59 balls while it was Kohli and burly Jamaican Chris Gayle who stole the limelight in the game against Sunrisers as the Royal Challengers chased down 81 runs in barely six overs in a rain-curtailed tie.

Getting to the playoffs has not been a cakewalk for either, with both managing to win only seven of their 14 matches apiece — and in two cases each shared the spoils in rain-marred matches.

Nonetheless, the Royals will look to do a repeat of the inaugural edition where they clinched the title when most experts had written them off while RCB will look to holding aloft the trophy for the first time.

It is hard to separate the two outfits from their head-to-head encounters with each side pocketing seven of the 15 clashes between them.

It might just require a Herculean effort from the big guns to make a difference and clinch the contest on Wednesday night. Will it be Gayle, Kohli or AB de Villiers for RCB or will Watson and Steven Smith do it for the Royals?

Given the unpredictability of this format, it might also push up an unlikely hero in the form of a bowler like Mitchell Starc or Chris Morris.

(IANS)

CSK conquer Royals to claim IPL top spot

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CSK

Chennai: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) climbed to the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table with a 12-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in a league match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday.

Chasing 158, Royals were restricted to 145 for nine in 20 overs.

CSK improved to 16 points from 12 matches, keeping Royals in the third spot with 14 points after 13 games.

Royals began their run-making process sedately with openers Ajinkya Rahane (23) and Shane Watson (28).

They mixed caution with aggression to build a strong platform for their team. Just as it seemed they have settled into a nice rhythm Rahane departed in the sixth over dismissed by Mohit Sharma.

No.3 batter Steve Smith (4) also didn’t last long as Royals slumped to 48 for two in the eighth over. But they received a bigger jolt when Watson had to depart, caught brilliantly by an acrobatic Dwayne Bravo at long on off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja in the 10th over.

Rajasthan’s situation worsened 11 balls later. Jadeja struck again to dismiss Karun Nair (10) to reduce Royals to 75 for four.

The asking rate steadily went up and Royals needed 73 runs off the last seven overs. But they just couldn’t muster the big hits needed to chase down the total.

Earlier, Brendon McCullum’s 81 off 61 balls lifted Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a fighting total of 157/5.

McCullum hit four sixes and seven fours and joined hands with Faf du Plessis (29) for a 101-run stand in 76 balls for the third wicket that was the driving force behind Chennai’s competitive score.

After electing to bat first, Chennai got off to a poor start, losing aggressive opening batsman Dwayne Smith (6) and ever-reliable Suresh Raina (3) inside four overs.

While left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma removed West Indian Smith, caught by James Faulkner, left-hander Raina too offered a catch to Faulkner off pacer Chris Morris to leave the hosts in spot of bother at 15/2.

Charismatic right-hander McCullum first tried to settle down, waiting for weak deliveries to pounce upon, like he did against off-spinner Pravin Tambe, who got hit for two sixes in the sixth over.

However, du Plessis ran himself out and afterwards McCullum also perished, offering a catch to Ankit for Morris’ second wicket. Morr is bagged his third after dismissing Pawan Negi for two.

Afterwards, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (not out 13) and Dwayne Bravo (not out 15) raised 28 runs in the final 15 deliveries of the innings to take Chennai to the decent total.

For Rajasthan, South African Morris was the best bowler, picking three wickets for just 19 runs in four overs.

(IANS)

Rahane, Nair star as Royals beat Daredevils by 14 runs

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rahane-nair

Mumbai: Ajinkya Rahane (91 in 54 balls) and Karun Nair (61 from 38 balls) helped Rajasthan Royals (RR) register their sixth win of the season, beating Delhi Daredevils (DD) by 14 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 encounter at the Brabourne Stadium here on Sunday.

Riding on a 113-run partnership by Rahane and Nair for the second wicket, Royals posted a challenging 189/2 in 20 overs.

In reply, Daredevils were never close to matching the skills displayed by Royals and eventually ended their innings at 175/7 in 20 overs. Skipper J.P. Duminy was the top scorer for Daredevils with 56 runs off 39 balls.

With the defeat, Delhi suffered their fifth loss in the tournament.

Earlier losing the toss and put into bat, Rajasthan got off to a modest start, with openers Rahane and Shane Watson taking time to get settled in the middle.

But with couple of overs bowled, they took on the Daredevils bowling piling up team’s first fifty in just 6.2 overs.

But as skipper Watson was looking to get settled, a surprising delivery by Angelo Mathews got him caught by the wicketkeeper for 21 off 24 balls.

His wicket didn’t put the brakes on the scoring as Rahane took the reins from there on to strike the ball to all parts of the park.

Incoming batsman, Nair too held on quite easily to give good company to Rahane.

The duo took advantage of some poor fielding by the visitors to put 100 runs on the board in the 14th over.

Rahane struck nine fours and three sixes, whereas his partner Nair hit six boundaries and two sixes.

The duo brought up their 100-run partnership for the second wicket in just 63 balls.

With his splendid innings, Rahane replaced Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner in the IPL 2015 leading run scorers list with 430 runs.

Daredevils dropped three catches in the innings. Gurinder Sandhu and Saurabh Tiwary dropped Rahane and Nair respectively and later on Amit Mishra and Zaheer Khan collided and dropped Rahane.

For Delhi, Mathews was the pick of the bowlers, picking up one wicket and finishing with figures of 4-0-27-1 but other bowlers – Zaheer Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Amit Mishra, Gurwinder Sandhu – all leaked heavy runs.

Chasing a challenging score of 189, Delhi got off to a worst possible start with losing both the openers – Mayank Agarwal (11) and Shreyas Iyer (9) – within five overs.

Incoming batsman Yuvraj Singh too didn’t last long, scoring just 22 off 18 balls. Angelo Mathews (16) and Kedar Jadav (11) also departed in space of two overs.

This made it more difficult for Daredevils to chase the huge target. Skipper Duminy tried his best, but looking to up the scoring rate, was caught by Dhawal Kulkarni off the bowling of James Faulkner.

With the dismissal of Duminy it looked all over for Delhi as wickets fell in clusters.

For Rajasthan, James Faulkner was the pick of the bowlers picking up two wickets and finishing with figures of 4-0-22-2. Shane Watson finished with 4-1-25-1. Dhawal Kulkarni went for runs but picked up two wickets. Staurt Binny also picked two wickets in his two overs.

Brief Score: Rajasthan Royals 189/2 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 91 not out, Karun Nair 61; Angelo Mathews 1/27, Nathan Coulter-Nile 1/38) beat Delhi Daredevils 111/2 in 20 overs (JP Duminy 56; James Faulkner 2/22, Stuart Binny 2/27, Dhawal Kulkarni 2/43, Shane Watson 1/25)

(IANS)

IPL: AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan lift RCB to 200

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Sarfaraz Khan

Bengaluru: A half-century by old faithful AB de Villiers, followed by a cameo by 17-year old fresh face from Mumbai Sarfaraz Khan, carried Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 200 for seven against Rajasthan Royals in an Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday.

The efforts of South African ace de Villiers (57, 45b, 9×4, 1×6) and Khan (45 not out, 21b, 6×4, 1×6) made up for the early exits of in-form openers Chris Gayle (10) and skipper Virat Kohli (1) as Rajasthan Royals bowlers wilted under pressure, leaking 70 runs in the last five overs.

Barring Kiwi paceman Tim Southee (2 for 32), the rest of visiting bowlers appeared quite pedestrian with leg-spinner Pravin Tambe slammed for 39 runs in his three overs and left-arm seamer James Faulkner going for 26 in two.

The RCB innings was off to a sensational start with Southee dismissing openers Chris Gayle (10) and Kohli (1) in the space of eight deliveries to leave the hosts teetering on 19 for two in the third over.

Gayle blasted a four and a six off Southee who, however, sent back the big Jamaican, playing across and holing out to Hooda at mid-wicket, all this action in the first four deliveries of the match.

Southee, in his next over, inducted a nick from Kohli who was caught behind.

The early reverses did not stop de Villiers from blasting away with Mandeep Singh following suit.

So much so, Faulkner went for 14 in his first over and Tambe leaked 15 as RCB batsmen raised a gallop.

Mandeep and de Villiers put on 74 runs for the third wicket in quick time. However, Rajasthan bounced back with Stuart Binny trapping Mandeep plumb in front and then de Villiers run out attempting a sharp single as RCB slid to 124 for four in the 14th over.

Thereafter, Karthik and Khan maintain the momentum before the former was run out following a misunderstanding.

However, Khan continued his merry way, carting Tambe for 18 in the 18th over as the leg-spinner conceded 39 runs in his three overs for a disappointing performance.

(IANS)

RCB thrash Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in IPL

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RCB-IPL

Ahmedabad: An overall sturdy team performance from the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) helped them beat table-toppers Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Sardar Patel Stadium here on Friday.

Chasing a meagre target of 131, the Royal Challengers reached home with nine wickets in hand and 3.5 overs to spare with skipper Virat Kohli (62 not out) scoring an unbeaten half-century.

It was a steady chase from the visitors with Kohli hitting three sixes and one boundary in his 45-ball innings. He was well supported by big-hitting AB de Villiers (47 not out), who together put up an unbeaten 98-run stand for the second wicket.

Earlier, explosive left-handed opener Chris Gayle had scored 20 before he was caught behind in the fifth over.

Royals skipper Shane Watson was the only wicket-taking bowler, clinching the West Indian’s wicket as his bowlers were left with a small target to defend.

Earlier, a strict bowling performance from the Royals Challengers helped them restrict the Royals to only 130/9 from 20 overs.

Kohli opted to field and utilised his bowlers to the optimum. The bowlers, spinners and pacers alike, backed their captain with most of them picking up wickets at regular intervals, which never let any partnership going for the host team.

Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, who was named Player of the Tournament in the recently concluded 50-over World Cup, was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, giving away only 22 runs from his four overs.

Australian Starc was backed by medio Harshal Patel (2/23) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (2/25), who picked up two wickets each, while slow left-arm orthodox bowler Iqbal Abdulla took 1/28.

No Royals batsman got going which resulted in the paltry total. Steven Smith (31), Watson (26) and all-rounder Stuart Binny (20) got starts but none were able to propel the run rate.

Opener Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair contributed with 18 and 16, respectively, before walking back to the pavilion.

(IANS)

Royals beat Sunrisers, win fourth successive match

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ajinkya-rahane-ipl-2015

Visakhapatnam: An overall strong team performance and a thrilling finish from the Rajasthan Royals helped them beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets on the last ball of the match to earn their fourth successive victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Thursday.

Put in to bat by Royals skipper Steven Smith, the Sunrisers were restricted to a mere 127/5 from their 20 overs.

In reply, the visitors were steady but extremely slow, considering the low target. However, the Royals chased down the required score off the last delivery as opener Ajinkya Rahane top scored with a match-winning 62.

At the start, the Sunrisers never really got any partnership going as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Leg spinner Pravin Tambe (2/21), the oldest player of the tournament at 43, and medio Dhawal Kulkarni (2/9) were the star performers as the duo made sure they kept the Sunrisers’ run rate in check. Together they bowled seven overs, including a maiden, taking two wickets and giving away only 30 runs.

There were a few mediocre performances from Sunrisers batsman. Captain David Warner (21), wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha (25), Eoin Morgan (27) and Ravi Bopara (23 not out) got starts but none of them were able to play the anchor’s innings to take the home team to a challenging total.

Chasing 128, the Royals played patiently as opening batsmen Rahane and Sanju Samson (26) struck an important 64-run partnership. Though they were off to a good start, they were quite slow in their chase which tightened things up towards the end, thanks to some disciplined bowling from the Sunrisers.

Wickets in hand proved to be Royals’ boon. With only one run needed off the last ball, James Faulkner connected well to put the ball past the point boundary for the visiting team.

Rahane was the star performer as he caressed nine boundaries in his 56-ball innings. However, a slow chase meant that the Royals had to wait till the last ball to win the match but wickets in hand eased off the pressure for them.

(IANS)

Smith's unbeaten 79 guides Rajasthan to seven wicket win over Mumbai

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steve-smith

Ahmedabad: Rajasthan Royals(RR) skipper Steve Smith smashed an unbeaten 79 off 53 balls to steer his side to a thrilling seven wicket victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Sardar Patel Stadium here on Tuesday.

The winning runs came from the captain’s willow, as Rajasthan hunte d down MI’s total of 164 for five. With five balls still remaining, Rajasthan reached 165 for three.

With this win, the Royals have registered their third straight win of the season. In stark contrast, 2013 IPL champions Mumbai slumped to their third defeat in as many matches.

Chasing a challenging 164-run target set by Mumbai Indians, the hosts got off to a modest start, but lost opener Sanju Samson for 17 in the fifth over when Mumbai’s Rohit Sharma caught him at mid off off the bowling of Vinay Kumar.

But Rajasthan didn’t let the asking rate go up, as Steve Smith and opener Ajinkya Rahane (46; 39 b, 4 x4) piled up a vital 64-run partnership for the second wicket to set the tone for the run chase.

As the duo was looking to take the game away from the visitors, Shreyas Gopal struck for Mumbai as he put the break on the run flow by dismissing Rahane, when he was caught at long off by Corey Anderson.

New man Deepak Hooda (13; 2×6), the hero of Royal’s match against Delhi, didn’t take much time to settle down as he smashed two consecutive sixes in the same over, one over deep mid wicket and the other over the bowler’s head.

But Hooda’s cameo ended when Malinga rattled his stumps .

Earlier on in the innings, Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma opted to bat first but the visitors got an early jolt, when opener Aaron Finch cramped himself up while taking a run and was forced to leave the field in the fourth over.

Finch’s opening partner Parthiv Patel (16), who opened the innings in place of skipper Rohit Sharma, departed in the fifth over.

The 2013 champions found themselves in more trouble when skipper Rohit who dropped himself two places down the batting order didn’t trouble the scorers (out for zero in the second successive match) as he was caught at first slip by Steve Smith while attempting to hit a wide delivery of the bowling of Stuart Binny.

With his dismissal, came in Anderson. At the other end, a struggling Unmukt Chand (12) was clean bowled by Pravin Tambe. Mumbai were then 45/3 in 9.5 overs.

Pollard walked in next, and changed the complexion of the game by authoring a 104-run stand with Anderson (50; 38 b, 5 fours, 3 sixes). Pollard (70; 34 b, 7×4, 5×6) smashed the ball to all parts of the ground to provide a breezy momentum to the Mumbai Indians.

Anderson was earlier caught of the bowling of Kulkarni when he was batting on 23 but the delivery was judged a no ball.

(IANS)

Hooda, Rahane inflict 11th consecutive loss on Daredevils

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deepak-hooda

New Delhi: Deepak Hooda’s 24-ball 54 and Ajinkya Rahane (47) helped Rajasthan Royals inflict the 11th consecutive loss on Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a three-wicket win at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Sunday.

Daredevils, who had lost nine consecutive matches in the last edition and the first match of this edition, scored 184/3 in 20 overs. They got the bulk of their runs through openers Mayank Agarwal (37 in 21 deliveries) and Shreyas Iyer (40 in 30 balls).

Skipper Jean-Paul Duminy (not out 44), Yuvraj Singh (27 runs in 17 balls) and Angelo Mathews (not out 27 in 14 balls) provided a late spark.

In reply to the big target, Royals struggled till the 19-year-old Hooda came and hit four sixes and three fours. They achieved the target with three wickets in hand.

Rahane held the innings together but Sanju Samson (11), stand-in skipper Steven Smith (10), Karun Nair (12-ball 20) and Stuart Binny (1) departed without any major contributions.

Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra used his variations to perfection as he removed Smith and Nair. Mathews accounted for opening batsman Samson while South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir trapped Indian batsman Binny in front of the stumps.

Tahir had his brace after bowling out Rahane to puncture the Royals chase even though Hooda continued to hammer the Daredevils bowlers.

Manoj Tiwary not only dropped Hooda on 31 on the midwicket boundary but also allowed the ball to go for a six and it proved costly for the Dardevils.

Later, Tahir removed Hooda and big-hitting James Faulkner (11-ball 17) to take Dardevils closer to a victory.

But Royals, needing 13 off the final over, got over the line as Tim Southee hit a four when they required three in the final ball of the match.

With this loss, Daredevils matched the maximum losing streak in the IPL. Now-defunct Pune Warriors India had lost 11 matches in an earlier edition.

Earlier, Agarwal got the Daredevils off to a flying start as he cracked 37 in just 21 deliveries. His knock included six fours and one six.

The Karnataka right-hander attacked the Royals pace bowlers. After showing his intent with a daring pull off New Zealander Tim Southee, he followed it with a flick off Chris Morris in the second over.

When Southee returned, Agarwal got onto the front foot and drove over the cover boundary for a six.

Royals skipper Smith removed Morris and brought in Dhawal Kulkarni and the Mumbai pacer was treated with similar disdain. Agarwal collected four fours that helped Daredevils score 44 runs in only four overs.

However, leg-spinner Pravin Tambe pulled the plug on Agarwal’s innings with the batsman offering a return catch to the bowler.

After a couple of quiet overs, Iyer blasted Tambe for a six and a four towards the long-on boundary before offering a catch to Southee off Morris. Iyer made 40 in 30 deliveries.

At 93/2 after 11 overs, 2015 IPL’s costliest buy Yuvraj — at Rs.16 crore — joined Duminy in the middle but perished after scoring a 17-ball 27.

Ace Sri Lankan all-rounder Mathews, who was picked in the XI ahead of in-form Albie Morkel, justified his selection as he fired 27 in 14 balls.

Along with Duminy, Mathews and Yuvraj ensured that Daredevils posted a challenging total but in the end, it was not enough.

Brief scores: Delhi Daredevils 184/3 in 20 overs (Jean-Paul Duminy not out 44, Shreyas Iyer 40, Mayank Agarwal 37; Chris Morris 2/35) lose to Rajasthan Royals: 186/7 in 20 overs (Deepak Hooda 54, Ajinkya Rahane 47; Imran Tahir 4/28).

(IANS)

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