IPL 7: Karun helps Rajasthan thrash Daredevils in their backyard

New Delhi Young Karun Nair cracked a brilliant unbeaten halfcentury to guide Rajasthan Royals to a comfortable sevenwicket victory over Delhi Daredevils in their IPL7 match at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium here today Nair anchored the Rajasthans runchase with 50ball 73run innings which was laced with eight boundaries and two sixes The 22yearold added 51 runs off 43 balls for the second wicket with Sanju Samson 34 as Royals overhauled the 153run winning target with nine balls to spare Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Watson greets Karun Nair on completing his half century in an IPL 7 match against Delhi Daredevils in New Delhi on Saturday PicPTIEarlier opener Quinton de Kock blasted 43 off 33 balls at the top while JP Duminy provided the late charge with a 31ball 39 to power Delhi Daredevils to a competitive 1525 in their stipulated 20 overs after Rajasthan skipper Shane Watson won the toss and elected to fieldDefending 152 Wayne Parnell dismissed Ajinkya Rahane 12 early in the innings with Murali Vijay pulling off a sensational catch at cover But the early setback didnt affect Rajasthans runchase as opener Nair and Sanju Samson 34 stitched together 51 runs off 43 balls for the second wicketBut their promising partnership was cut short by spinner Shabhaz Nadeem off the last ball of the 10th over when he deceived Samson with a tossed up delivery and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik did a good job behind the wicket to reduce Rajasthan to 71 for two in 10 overs Samson hit two boundaries and a couple of sixes in his 28ball inningsRajat Bhatia then joined Nair and the duo picked up sixes off Unadkat and Rahul Sharma over extra cover and long on respectively as Rajasthan crossed the 100mark in the 13th over Bhatia was dismissed by Mohammed Shami in the 15th over But it didnt have any affect as Watson 16 and Nair then finished the job with an unbeaten 41run partnership off only 21 balls For Delhi Parnell Nadeem and Shami took one wicket eachEarlier Watson used six different bowlers in the powerplay and it was James Faulkner who drew the first blood dismissing opener Murali Vijay 13 off a back of the length delivery which was pouched by the skipper at midoff Young de Kock 42 did most of the scoring in the powerplay blasting three fours and a six over the leg side boundary as Delhi reached 461 in six overs His 33ball innings was studded with five fours and one sixes Skipper Kevin Pietersen too should have been back in the hut as he was found short by a throw from wicketkeeper by in the second ball of seventh over by Rajat Bhatia But squareleg umpire Sanjay Hazare didnt refer it to the third umpire thus giving Pietersen a respite when he was at 2 However the umpires goofup didnt hurt Rajasthan much as Pravin Tambe had Pietersen 14 caught at longon by Steven Smith in the 10th over De Kock who was playing well so far at the other end too ended up giving a simple catch to Tambe on the last ball as Delhi slipped to 723 in 10 oversThe twin strike by Tambe brought two newman Dinesh Karthik and J P Duminy at the crease and they tried to steady the ship with a 24run stand in 32 balls Faulkner was the one who broke the stand when he had Karthik hole out to Stuart Binny at deep square leg in the 16th over Kedar Jadhav then joined Duminy in the middle and he brought up the 100 for Delhi with a six which flew off the topedge in the last ball Duminy then picked up a four in the next over off Dhawal Kulkarni who replaced spinner Iqbal Abdulla in the playing XIThe South African blasted two more boundaries to pile up 11 runs off Kane Richardson The duo blasted one four each in the 19th over by Faulkner to accumulate quick runs In the last over Duminy blasted a Richardson ball over square leg for another six but the Australian had his revenge in the next ball itself when Rajat Bhatia took a sensational catch at the boundary line The duo added 46 off 25 balls Duminy smashed four fours and one six Jadhav then smashed a four and a six to take Delhi across the 150mark For Rajasthan James Faulkner 226 and Pravin Tambe 225 were chief performers