Rajasthan Royals 185 for 5 (Parag 84, Ashwin 29, Axar 1-21, Khaleel 1-24) beat Delhi Capitals 173 for 5 (Warner 49, Stubbs 44*, Chahal 2-19, Burger 2-29) by 12 runs

RR batters dance to the ball's tune

DC's new-ball bowlers might not have the extreme pace, but Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed maximised the early seam movement by bowling areas where they kept attacking the stumps. Even though RR looked to weather the storm, they couldn't afford to do so for too long lest they batted themselves out of the game.

Mukesh bowled Jaiswal, Khaleel drew an edge from Samson during his third over in the powerplay, and Kuldeep Yadav trapped Buttler lbw on the reverse-sweep. At 36 for 3 in the eighth over, it could be argued decisive damage had been caused already.

Ashwin the batter takes flight

Playing on painkillers and flu medication after three days of illness, Parag took over after Ashwin got out. The switch up started with a pulled six off Kuldeep in the 13th over, continued with 6,4 and 4 in the 15th to somewhat damage Khaleel's figures, and ended with a glorious takedown of Nortje in the 20th over, which went for two sixes and 25 runs in all. Hetmyer, who started his innings in the 18th over, ended with an unbeaten 14 off seven.

Sizzling Burger worth the wait

It was clear RR were going lengths to get the services of Burger over Powell. The Parag assault in the final third of the innings helped them make their minds up. And Burger immediately vindicated the decision by getting rid of the marauding Mitchell Marsh and Ricky Bhui in the fourth over. On a night that Trent Boult went wicketless, forget taking his usual first-over wicket, Burger made sure RR caused the early damage. Marsh was bowled through swing at high space, and Bhui gloved a bouncer.

Chahal and Co apply middle-overs squeeze

The two big left-arm seamers took on the challenge of bowling inside the powerplay, which also probably meant less pressure on the remaining four bowlers to bowl 14 between them.