New Delhi: Delhi Capitals registered an important win in the Indian Premier League 2024 as they beat Gujarat Titans by 4 runs in a thriller at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday night to keep their hopes alive. With this win they moved to sixth spots in points table with 8 points from 8 matches.
Chasing 224, the visitors could managed 220 runs in allotted overs losing 8 wickets. Needing 19 runs from final over which was bowled by Mukesh Kumar, Rashid Khan hit two boundaries in first two balls before hitting a six in the fifth ball. But the Afgan failed to score in the final balls.
Sai Sudharsan scored 65 runs from 39 balls while David Miller struck 55 runs from just 23 balls in the second part of the innings. Rasikh Dar Salam took 3 wickets for 44 for the hosts.
Earlier, captain Rishabh Pant slammed an unbeaten 88 off 43 balls, while Axar Patel hit a 43-ball 66 to lift Delhi Capitals to a mammoth 224/4.
GT had the upper hand after electing to bowl first, thanks to Sandeep Warrier’s triple strikes in power-play and leave DC in trouble. But Pant and Axar took their time, before launching a stunning onslaught against spinners to form a decisive 113-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Axar made his promotion to number three count by hitting five fours and four sixes in his eye-catchy knock at a strike-rate of 153.49. Pant, after being scratchy in his 44 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, was at his magnificent best in hitting eight sixes and five fours at a strike-rate of 204.6.
The duo being phenomenal with the bat meant GT spinners were rendered ineffective in middle overs and the visitors’ bowlers were promptly taken for cleaners in the death overs. Moreover, Warrier didn’t bowl out his final over, as DC took 97 runs in their final five overs.
Pushed into batting first, Prithvi Shaw and Jake Fraser-McGurk hit six delightful boundaries as DC reached 34/0 in three overs. But Warrier bounced back in the fourth over after conceding 12 runs in his opening over.
The fast-bowler first had Fraser-McGurk flicking off the bottom edge to deep square leg, followed by getting Shaw to mistime a pull, with Noor Ahmad running in from deep square leg to take a diving catch. Warrier got his third power-play wicket when Shai Hope sliced away from his body and was caught at backward point, as DC ended the six-over phase with 44/3.
Axar got a move on by crashing a drive off Omarzai, before nailing a slog-sweep for six on a Rashid Khan googly. He and Pant took a pulled four each off Rashid’s short balls, followed by the latter slog-sweeping Noor Ahmad for a four and six each.
Pant got his fifty in 34 balls by lofting a full-toss from Mohit over long-on for six, and was met with a grand applause from the crowd. GT brought in R Sai Kishore’s left-arm spin in the 19th over to counter right-handed Tristan Stubbs.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 224/4 in 20 overs (Pant 88no; Axar Patel 66; Sandeep Warrier 3-15) beat Gujarat Titans 220/8 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 65, David Miller 55, Saha 39, Rasikh Dar Salam 3/44, Kuldeep Yadav 2/29. Agencies
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