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Pant leads Delhi Capitals to tense win over Gujarat Titans

olympics24 April 2024 17:58
By:Neil Manthorp
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Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant was at the heart of a rousing comeback to lead his team to a daunting total of 224-4 but nerves were shred as they hung on grimly to claim victory by just four runs in their IPL match against the Gujarat Titans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday.

 

Chasing a record 225 for victory the Titans were kept in the game by David Miller’s 55 from just 23 balls (6x4, 3x6) and Rashid Khan who blasted 21* from 11 balls in the last two overs, but the late onslaught was just insufficient as they finished on 220-8.

Earlier, Pant was especially devastating on the leg side hammering five fours and eight sixes in his unbeaten 88 from only 43 balls as a staggering 53 runs were scored from the final two overs.

Gujarat gambled by bowling left-arm spinner Sai Kishore for a solitary over in the 19th of the innings and it cost 22 runs but the final over, bowled by seasoned veteran Mohit Sharma, went for 31 leaving with the bruising analysis of 4-0-73-0.

Tristan Stubbs more than played his part in the carnage with an unbeaten 27 from seven balls with three fours and two sixes.

Sandeep Warrier (3-0-15-3) claimed three wickets inside the Power Play to reduce the home side to 44-3 in 5.4 overs, but the promotion of Axar Patel to No 3 in the batting order paid rich dividends as he added 113 for the fourth wicket with Pant.

Openers Prithvi Shaw (11) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (23) were both caught my Afghan mystery spinner Noor Ahmed at deep square leg with the effort to dismiss Shaw especially eye-catching as the fielder sprinted in from the boundary and dived forward to hold the catch centimetres above the grass.

Left-arm wrist spinner Noor finally broke the partnership when Axar holed out to long on for 66 from 43 balls (5x4, 4x6) but his work was done.

The run-chase was given early wings by Wriddhiman Saha (39) and Sudharsan (65) but wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (2-29) and left armer Axar (1-28) proved the difference in a contest where every seamer cost more than 10 per over.

Victory for the home side moves them closer to the playoff places into sixth place with eight points from nine matches while Gujarat incurred a fifth loss in nine matches.

DELHI CAPITALS: Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (captain/wkt), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar

GUJARAT TITANS: Wriddhiman Saha (wkt), Shubman Gill (captain), David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Warrier

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