The Rajasthan Royals returned to winning ways, and regained their position at the top of the Pepsi IPL 2015 standings, after they defeated the Delhi Daredevils by 14 runs. Playing their first match at their adopted home ground – Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai – the Rajasthan Royals rode on half-centuries by Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair, and their 113-run partnership, to post 189 runs on the board. When they came out to defend the total, the bowlers restricted the visitors to 175-7. Even though the margin of victory was a small matter of 14 runs, numbers don’t really indicate that DD never got their footing in the run-chase. Earlier in the evening, after being put in to bat on a track where the ball came on to the bat nicely, Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair flourished playing proper cricket strokes. Both batsmen drove fluently, hit plenty of deliveries down the ground, put away short deliveries through midwicket, and once in a while pulled out the sweep and slog-sweep too. The pair came together after Shane Watson and Rahane had stitched together a 52-run opening partnership, made batting look easy and took their team to 165. Karun was the second RR batsman to be dismissed; the Karnataka batsman brought up his half-century off 33 balls, and carried on until he was dismissed in the 19th over of the innings. The 23-year old Karun made 61 from 38 balls, studded with six boundaries and two sixes. Rahane, who reclaimed the Orange Cap, carried his bat through finishing unbeaten on 91. The Mumbai-lad needed 36 balls to get to his half-century, and added 41 runs in the next 18 balls; there were nine fours and three sixes in his 54-ball outing. Rajasthan Royals finished their allotted twenty overs at 189 for 2. For the Delhi Daredevils, Zaheer Khan was impressive in his first two overs, before his two other overs cost him 23 runs. Angelo Mathews was the only DD bowler to escape punishment; the Sri Lankan bowled his four overs for 27 runs, picking up the wicket of Watson. Nathan Coulter-Nile was the only other wicket-taker for the visitors. When it was their turn to chase, DD kept losing wickets at regular intervals. JP Duminy was the lone warrior for the visitors; the DD skipper scored 56 from 39 balls, aided with three boundaries and three sixes, before he was dismissed in the 18th over. Yuvraj Singh played a couple of crisp strokes before a pull landed in the hands of Stuart Binny patrolling the square-leg boundary. The biggest partnership for DD, who finished their twenty overs at 175-7, was the 41-run stand between Duminy and Angelo Mathews (16). James Faulkner celebrated his return to the Rajasthan Royals XI with a brilliant spell of bowling; he picked up the wickets of Duminy and Yuvraj Singh, while conceding only 22 runs in his four overs. Dhawal Kulkarni (2-43), Binny (2-27) and Watson (4-1-25-1) were the other wicket-takers for the hosts. Brief Scores Rajasthan Royals 189-2 in 20.0 Overs (Ajinkya Rahane 91*, Karun Nair 61, Angelo Mathews 1-27) beat Delhi Daredevils 175-7 in 20.0 Overs (JP Duminy 56, James Faulkner 2-22) Man of the Match: Ajinkya Rahane, for his unbeaten 54-ball 91.