IPL: Ajinkya Rahane Fifty Gives RPS Vital Win Over DD, Keeps Their Campaign Afloat

Rising Pune Supergiants won the toss and chose to bowl against Delhi Daredevils at the Kotla. The home team were without skipper Zaheer Khan and JP Duminy captainted the Daredevils. (IMages credit: BCCI)

Delhi Daredevils got off to a poor start when Rishabh Pant, the half-centurion from the previous match, was cleaned up for 2.

Ashok Dinda had given MS Dhoni's Rising Pune Supergiants the breakthrough as Delhi Daredevils struggled on a sluggish wicket.

Rising Pune Supergiants struck at regular intervals and Delhi Daredevils struggled for momentum after the end of the powerplay.

Sam Billings and JP Duminy stitched together a 45-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Duminy looked good and he kept Delhi Daredevils afloat during the middle overs.

Delhi Daredevils lost Duminy at a crucial time as RPS wrested the intiative back.

Carlos Brathwaite struck three sixes and he put Delhi Daredevils on course for a big score.

Delhi Daredevils fizzled out towards the end as couple of run-outs dented their progress and they ended up on 162/7.

Chasing 163, Usman Khawaja and Ajinkya Rahane got off to an aggressive start.

Khawaja looked in good touch and the opening stand was worth 59 runs.

Rahane looked in great touch and RPS were cruising towards the target.

However, Amit Mishra struck the first blow by removing Khawaja as the Delhi Daredevils spinners kept things tight.

Tahir chipped in with the wicket of Saurabh Tiwary as RPS required over 50 runs heading into the last five overs.

Some big blows from MS Dhoni got the target down but with his dismissal, it seemed RPS would fall short.

However, Thisara Perera struck a couple of sixes from Tahir to seal a seven-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils.

The win meant that Delhi Daredevils stayed in third place but Rising Pune Supergiants got six points to keep their 2016 IPL campaign alive.