Rajasthan Royals’s South African duo David Miller and Chris Morris combined to pull off an improbable win against the Delhi Capitals at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. 

At 42 for the loss of five wickets, the Royals seemed dead and buried and set for consecutive losses, but Miller’s 10th Indian Premier League (IPL) fifty and Morris’ 18-ball-36 cameo got them beyond the 148-run target with two deliveries to spare. 

Skipper Sanju Samson, who failed to build on his century against the Punjab Kings, was dismissed by South African speedster Kagiso Rabada in between Chris Woakes and Avesh Khan taking two wickets each. 

Miller then forged a 49-run partnership with Rahul Tewatia to stabilise the innings, before smashing consecutive sixes, the first of the match, to accelerate the scoring. His innings, which also included seven boundaries, came to an end after he looked to make it three-in-a-row, but instead lobbing the ball to Lalit Yadav at long on. 

His dismissal came as a huge dent to Rajasthan’s chase, as they still needed 44 runs from 25 deliveries. 

Up stepped Morris, the most expensive player in IPL history, as he justified his Rs 16.25 crore-price tag with a 18-ball 36-run blitz, inlcuding four sixes to get Rajasthan over the line. 

Crucially, Morris was let off the hook by Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant, who fluffed a simple run-out opportunity as he failed to collect the ball before dislodging the stumps in the 18th over. 

Earlier, seamer Jaydev Unadkat‘s brilliant 3/15 spell, for which he was adjudged man-of-the-match, helped the Royals restrict the Capitals to a 147-run total.

The Royals made a dream start, with pacers Unadkat dismissing the top three batsmen before Mustafizur Rahman and Chris Morris joined the wicket-taking party. However, Pant led a fightback with his 13th IPL fifty before  help Delhi set a competent target.