Delhi Capitals (DC) held their nerve in a closely fought contest at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday, beating Gujarat Titans (GT) by four runs to make it a double over the IPL 2022 champions.
Batting first, we posted 224 runs on the scoreboard, courtesy of Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel’s fifties. The Titans, despite David Miller and Rashid Khan’s best efforts, were restricted to 220.
It was Delhi Capitals’ first win at Qila Kotla in IPL 2024 as the two added points keep us in the hunt for a Playoffs spot.
The Titans’ captain, Shubman Gill, won the toss and DC were put in to bat first. While David Warner missed out, Shai Hope was back in the Playing XI.
Jake Fraser-McGurk, once again, got the Capitals off to a flying start. The hard-hitting Aussie smashed two fours and two sixes, providing us with a much-needed impetus atop the powerplay. He never disappoints, does he?
However, Sandeep Warrier dismissed Fraser-McGurk and Prithvi Shaw in his second over. The GT pacer, then, also scalped Shai Hope as we were at 44/3 at the end of the powerplay.
Axar Patel, joined by our captain Rishabh Pant, then staged a fightback for the Capitals. After successfully negating the early pressure, they took on GT’s Afghan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad while notching a 50+ run partnership.
The Rishabh and Axar show continued to showcase some blockbuster hits in the stands. From a concerning situation, the duo powered us to a promising position by the second strategic timeout with a 113-run stand.
Rishabh and Axar, meanwhile, also completed their fifties, keeping us in pole position to produce a grandstand finish at Qila Kotla.
After Axar was dismissed, Tristan Stubbs introduced his TriStorm against Sai Kishore in the penultimate over, smashing two fours and two sixes.
But Rishabh Pant, then, produced the highlight over of our innings. The skipper smashed four sixes in the final over, scoring 31 runs in the final over.
Pant finished with 88 runs off only 43 balls. The skipper’s masterful knock included five fours and eight sixes.
“Each and every day I feel better. I give my 100%. Every hour I just love being on the field. Just try to do my best on the field,” - Rishabh Pant is truly making a memorable comeback.
Delhi Capitals, meanwhile, ended with 224/4 in 20 overs.
"It is a phenomenal effort. It was a fantastic finish,” - A perfect summation of our innings by Axar Patel in the mid-innings interview.
Early in the run chase, Anrich Nortje got rid of the GT skipper Shubman Gill in the second over. Wriddhiman Saha and Sai Sudharsan, however, stitched a brisk partnership to take the Titans to 67/1 at the end of the powerplay.
It was impossible to keep Axar out of action for long. Our experienced all-rounder took a stunning catch to dismiss the well-set Saha before getting the wicket of Azmatullah Omarzai.
Rasikh Dar, too, got in on the action straight away. He knocked over Sudharsan and Shahrukh Khan, taking his maiden IPL wicket in the process.
Kuldeep, meanwhile, got in on the act in his final over. The magical wrist-spinner picked his second wicket of the night, a much-prized scalp of the dangerous Rahul Tewatia. His impressive spell saw GT needing 73 runs off the final 24 balls.
David Miller threatened to take the game away from the Capitals with his quickfire fifty. Rasikh Dar, however, had the final say and sent the Protea batter back into the dugout.
The final three overs, meanwhile, were a cliffhanger with the game swinging like a pendulum. GT struck with boundaries from Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan while we struck back with wickets. On the final ball, with 4 runs to defend, Mukesh Kumar held his nerve and restricted Rashid to a dot ball, sealing the victory for the Capitals.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 224/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 88*, Axar Patel 66; Sandeep Warrier 3/15) beat Gujarat Titans 220/8 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 65; Rasikh Dar 3/44, Kuldeep Yadav 2/29) by two runs.
Player of the Match: Rishabh Pant.
