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East Delhi Riders were crowned the champions of the inaugural edition of Delhi Premier League (DPL). In-form South Delhi Superstarz captain Ayush Badoni and opener Priyansh Arya failed in the final. Former India Under-19 all-rounder Mayank Rawat starred with an unbeaten 39-ball 78. East Delhi Riders won by three runs in a thrilling last-ball finish.
Rawat comes to rescue
Batting first, East Delhi Riders lost openers Anuj Rawat and Sujal Singh in the powerplay overs. Skipper Himmat Singh, Hardik Sharma got off to starts but could not convert them. When Rawat walked out to bat, East Delhi Riders were 69/4 in 9.5 overs. He shared a 47-run partnership with Kavya Gupta who scored 16 runs from 12 balls.
In the slog overs, he accelerated and got support from Harsh Tyagi who scored 17 runs from 12 balls. After the 19th over, East Delhi Riders' score was 153/5. Skipper Badoni brought back himself into the attack to bowl the last over. He had conceded four runs in his first over. Rawat decided to take him on and smashed a six first ball. He reached his half-century from 34 balls. Badoni followed it up with a dot ball. On the last four deliveries, Rawat hit four consecutive sixes to take the score to 183/5.
Big names fail in run chase
In the run chase, South Delhi Supertarz lost Arya and Badoni for single-digit scores. Tejaswi Dahiya played the anchor role. After scoring a half-century, Rawat dismissed opener Kunwar Bidhuri who scored 22 runs from 19 balls. Dahiya held on to one end whereas wickets fell on another. Vision Panchal contributed with a nine-ball 25 cameo to revive the run chase.
Dahiya departed in the penultimate over of the innings. Chennai Super Kings' Simarjeet Singh got the crucial wicket. He scored 68 runs from 42 balls including seven fours and four sixes. In the final over, they needed 19 runs to win. Digvesh Rathi hit a six followed by a four. After a dot ball, he hit another boundary. Five runs were needed off the last two balls. Rounak Waghela held his nerves and conceded just one run via extras. Rathi remained unbeaten for 16-ball 21 as South Delhi Superstarz lost the match by three runs.
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