The Rajasthan Royals will be looking to get their challenge for a top four place in IPL 7 back on track when they host the Delhi Daredevils on Thursday at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad.
Despite losing their latest match on Tuesday against the Chennai Super Kings, who returned to the top of the table as a result, the Royals are still in a solid third position, with ambitions to overtake one of the top two, either Chennai or the Kings XI, in order to make their play-off passage somewhat simpler.
The Royals had chosen to bat against the Super Kings and made solid early progress thanks to openers Shane Watson and Ankit Sharma, but the later order was unable to produce the same sort of heroics that had brought them a stunning victory the other evening against Bangalore, and they were held to 148 for 8 in their 20 overs.
Although the Royals bowlers nibbled away at the Chennai batting throughout the innings, opener Dwayne Smith with a typical belligerent 44 led the way, as the Super Kings reached their target in the last over with five wickets to spare. Skipper MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja seeing their side across the finish line, and back to the head of the table.
Delhi meanwhile find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table, after going down to the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 16 runs in Bengaluru.
The Delhi bowling was once more found wanting, as Yuvraj Singh took the game away from them with a stunning 29-ball 68, that enabled Bangalore to set Delhi a 187-run target. Although there were a few bright moments during their reply, the Daredevils never really threatened to reach their target, and fell short, making just 170 in their 20 overs.
With just two wins from their 10 games, Kevin Pietersen doesn’t look likely to be leading his side into the play-offs at the end of the season.