JAIPUR, In­dia – West In­dies left-han­der Shim­ron Het­my­er had lit­tle chance to make a big im­pres­sion af­ter an un­beat­en 84 from Riyan Parag set up Ra­jasthan Roy­als for their sec­ond win in a row when they edged Del­hi Cap­i­tals by 12 runs in the In­di­an Pre­mier League on Thurs­day.

Het­my­er was not out on 14 and shared an un­bro­ken sixth wick­et stand of 43 with Parag, whose knock in­clud­ed sev­en fours and sev­en six­es from 45 balls and pro­pelled Roy­als to 185 for five af­ter they were put in to bat in the match at the Sawai Mans­ingh Sta­di­um.

The part­ner­ship be­tween Het­my­er and Parag was part of a sal­vage op­er­a­tion for the Roy­als af­ter they limped to 31 for two at the close of the Pow­er Play, and they wob­bled fur­ther on 36 for three af­ter Eng­land white-ball cap­tain Jos But­tler was lbw to un­ortho­dox left-arm wrist Kuldeep Ya­dav in the eighth over.

Chas­ing 186, the Cap­i­tals got off to a brisk start, but South Africa left-arm pac­er Nan­dre Burg­er and leg-spin­ner Yuzven­dra Cha­hal took two wick­ets apiece and led the Roy­als bowl­ing in the Pow­er Play and the mid­dle overs re­spec­tive­ly.

Cap­i­tals re­quired 64 in the fi­nal five overs, and South Africa in­ter­na­tion­al Tris­tan Stubbs gave them hope with 44 not out and a 51-run, sixth wick­et stand with Axar Pa­tel, but pac­er Avesh Khan bowled a fan­tas­tic fi­nal over to de­fend 17 and seal vic­to­ry for the Roy­als.

The re­sult meant the Roy­als are sec­ond on four points with two wins from their two match­es, and the Cap­i­tals dropped to eighth in the 10-team ta­ble with no points af­ter their sec­ond loss in a row.

CMC