Delhi Capitals managed to survive a thriller against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium as opposition captain Sanju Samson single-handedly threatened to wrap up the mighty chase. They eventually managed to script a 20-run win to keep their playoff hopes alive in IPL 2024, while Rajasthan succumbed to a second straight loss. Despite the win in the nail-biter of a contest, Samson’s game-changing dismissal under controversial circumstances hogged all the attention.
Chasing 222 runs for victory in Delhi, Samson was the lone warrior for Rajasthan Royals. He arrived at the crease in the opening over itself after Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed in the second ball of the innings, and kicked off his aggressive knock in style as he raced off to 40 runs inside the powerplay.
The Rajasthan Royals wicketkeeper lacked major support from the top order, with batters around him carving out cameos. Samson, however, kept the fight alive as he notched up his fifty in quick time before racing towards his hundred. But the eyes were always on the win. His efforts left Rajasthan 63 runs away from assuring themselves a spot in the playoffs, with five overs in hand, before he smashed a slot ball straight towards long-off.
While it looked like Samson was en route for another six, Shai Hope, who was stationed at the deep, perfectly judged the overhead catch but had to pay closer attention to whether his feet touched the boundary ropes. An initial view of the dismissal looked like there was a possibility that his feet might have touched the ropes, given that he was standing extremely close to it at the time of the catch, but DC players started celebrating the dismissal jubilantly.
RR unhappy with call
The decision was quickly referred to the TV umpire, who did look at the catch from a few, not all, angles before concluding that it was a clean catch. But Samson did not seem convinced by the dismissal. He charged at the umpires and fiercely argued with the match officials as Rajasthan Royals director of cricket and head coach Kumar Sangakkara and the rest of the members in the dugout were in a shamble. Shocked at the dismissal, they all stood up to carefully look at the replay again while Samson helplessly made his way back to the pavilion. Meanwhile, DC co-owner Parth Jindal lost his calm in the stands as he kept screaming that it was out.
Samson was dismissed for 86 off 46. There was still hope left for RR with Rovman Powell walking out as the last batting hope for the visitors, but he failed to make much of a difference as the side lost by 20 runs.
