Unbeaten Rajasthan and Delhi lead the IPL after second wins

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AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — Medium-pacer Tushar Deshpande held his nerve bowling the last over to give Rajasthan Royals a thrilling six-run win against Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.

Gujarat needed 11 runs from the final over and Deshpande conceded only four for Rajasthan's second win from two matches and top spot in the table on net run-rate from Delhi Capitals, who beat Mumbai Indians earlier.

Rajasthan notched 210-6 thanks to Dhruv Jurel's 75 off 42 balls and Yashasvi Jaiswal's 55 off 36.

Gujarat, on the back of Sai Sudharsan’s 73 off 44 and tailenders Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada, mounted a terrific comeback to reduce the chase to a reachable 15 off the last 12 balls.

But Rajasthan's England pacer Jofra Archer allowed only four runs in the 19th over, and Deshpande, who played two Twenty20s for India in 2024, was given the last over. He also allowed only four and closed with two dot balls and Khan's wicket. With Gujarat stranded at 204-8, Deshpande thumped his chest in jubilation.

“(The last two overs) was just incredible,” Rajasthan captain Riyan Parag said. “Took a chance to go full and fast and the boys delivered.” Parag admitted Deshpande was to bowl the 19th and Archer the last but he was persuaded to switch by Jurel.

Earlier, Delhi beat Mumbai by six wickets in the national capital and went top of the table for approximately four hours.

Sameer Rizvi blew away Mumbai with 90 runs off 51 balls to help set up Delhi's second win from two matches.

The impact player followed his unbeaten 70 against Lucknow SuperGiants on Wednesday with seven sixes and seven boundaries in his highest IPL score.

Delhi raced to 164-4 and a six-wicket win with 11 balls to spare in reply to Mumbai's 162-6 and a first loss in the young season for the five-time champion.

Rajasthan opted to bat first and Jaiswal and 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi launched 70 runs off 38 balls for the first wicket.

Suryavanshi scored 31 off 18 including five fours and a six before he miscued to deep midwicket.

Jaiswal took over to score 50 off 32 balls including three sixes and six boundaries.

Jaiswal and Jurel combined for 56 into the 12th over before Jaiswal was bowled by Rabada. Jurel carried Rajasthan past 200 in the 19th over before he nicked behind in the 20th. Jurel hit five sixes and five fours.

Gujarat captain Shubman Gill was missing owing to a muscle spasm and Sudharsan led the way with 50 off 33 in an opening stand of 78 with Kumar Kushagra.

When Sudharsan holed out in the 11th over, Gujarat started losing steam.

Impact substitute Ravi Bishnoi, the wrist spinner who was named man of the match, picked 4-41 in four overs to reduce Gujarat to 133-5 in the 14th over.

But Khan and Rabada fought hard to take the game into the final overs, where they were trumped by Archer and Deshpande.

Rizvi started his innings conservatively, taking 20 balls to get his eye in. He came in with Delhi in trouble at 7-2 in the second over. Rizvi joined opener Pathum Nissanka, who was the initial aggressor in their 66-run stand.

When Nissanka top-edged a pull straight up on 44 at 73-3, Rizvi took charge of the chase at Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Rizvi's 50 off 31 balls led Delhi to 100 in the 12th over. He appeared set for his maiden IPL hundred and was 10 runs away when he went looking for his eighth six and was caught at long-off in the 17th over. Mumbai players applauded Rizvi as he left.

“Rizvi never let us get back into the game,” Mumbai stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav said.

Rizvi said he'd worked on his weaknesses, especially against fast bowlers, before his third IPL. “I took time, got set and then played my shots," he said. "I tried to watch the ball as long as possible. Did the same in the last game.”

Mumbai was made to bat first and finished with a score Yadav felt was 15-20 runs short.

Mukesh Kumar (2-26) struck twice in the third over, bagging Ryan Rickelton on 9 and taking a return catch from Tilak Varma for a two-ball duck.

Yadav and Rohit Sharma combined for 53 off 40 balls but the slowish Delhi pitch didn’t allow the Mumbai stars to run away.

Delhi skipper Axar Patel got the breakthrough when Sharma slapped him to cover and Nitish Rana took a tough chance above his head in the 10th over.

Yadav got 51 off 36 but was out lbw to Lungi Ngidi and Mumbai faded.

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