IPL 2018 | Shreyas Iyer heaps praise on Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw for their performances against Royals

On Wednesday, in a rain-interrupted match, Delhi Daredevils beat Rajasthan Royals by 4 runs with the help of the DLS method at the Feroz Shah Kotla and kept the hopes for playoffs alive. Both Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw have once again displayed their impressive form with the bat, as while Pant smashed a 29-ball 69, Shaw gave Delhi a much-needed quick start and made 47 off 25 balls which gave the momentum for next batsmen to fire after the match reduced to 18 overs per innings.

Batting first, Delhi posted a mammoth 196/6 from 17.1 overs before the rain interrupted the game again and the newly-revised target of 151 from 12 overs was given to Rajasthan Royals by the calculation of the DLS method. Jos Buttler and D'arcy Short came out all guns blazing to give Rajasthan Royals some hope and scored 67 off 29 balls and 44 of 25 balls respectively. In the last over, Rajasthan Royals were needing 15 off 6 balls, but Rahul Tripathi and Krishnappa Gowtham could only manage 10 off the last over bowled by Trent Boult.

After the win, Shreyas Iyer gave the credit to both youngsters Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw, for their magnificent knocks which helped Delhi post such a huge total.

"The start Shaw is giving is amazing for Daredevils. Personally, Pant coming in, giving that extra strike-rate, and if he plays till the end the score can be totally different," said Iyer.

The new orange cap holder Rishabh Pant looked extremely happy after his knock which helped his team get over the line in a do-or-die clash.

"It's been going great but I'm just happy with the win for my team. If anyone is retained, it doesn't matter, you have to just perform for your team," said the stylish left-hander.

The 20-year-old is now the leading run-scorer in this year's IPL with 375 runs from 9 games. Co-incidentally, the Purple Cap also belongs to a Delhi player, Boult, who has taken 13 wickets now from nine games in the season. Pant also claimed that Delhi can still make the playoffs if they continue to win from now onwards.

"As Daredevils, we're just being positive. We know if we lose, we're out, so being positive for every match. Intent is same in every game, but the small things were important which got us the win tonight," said Pant.

"We also know that it's important for us to win all the games. We've been believing in each other and Ricky Ponting is really positive. No one is thinking negatively," he added.