Delhi: Rishabh Pant dazzled with an unbeaten 88 as Delhi Capitals defeated Gujarat Titans by four runs in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday.
Invited to bat, Pant (88 not out of 43 balls) and Axar Patel (66 off 43 balls) scored contrasting fifties to power Delhi Capitals to 224 for 4.
In reply, Sai Sudarshan (65 off 29 ) and David Miller (55 off 23) scored fifties but couldn't take GT over the line, finishing at 220 for 8 in their 20 overs.
Earlier, Axar and Pant stitched a 113-run partnership to steady the innings after medium pacer Sandeep Warrier (3/15) ran through the top three.
Skipper Pant was in his element scoring as many as eight maximums and five fours. Tristan Stubbs blazed away to 26 off 7 balls.
Match Live Updates Starts From Here
Live updates from the second innings
- Over 16-20 (220/8)
David Miller smashed a blistering fifty off just 22 balls before losing his wicket. Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore took the game as they smacked everything which came in their arc. However, DC fell short by just fours runs to win the high scoring thriller.
- Over 11-15 (147/5)
GT lost three crucial wickets in the phase as Azmatullah was first dismissed by Axar Patel. The batter tried to slog it over deep mid-wicket but handed out a catch in the deep. Rasikh Salam then got rid of Sudharsan who was on song as he tried to play a big shot against full-length delivery but instead holed it out at long-off and was caught by Axar. Miller smacked a couple of boundaries in the 14th over to stop the continuous fall of wickets. However, Rasikh struck once again in the 15th over as Shahrukh Khan nicked his first delivery and the wicketkeeper did a splendid job of taking a sharp catch.
- Over 7-10 (98/2)
The partnership between Saha and Sudharsan was brewing but a sensational fielding effort from Axar Patel saw the batter walking back to the crease after scoring 39 runs. Meanwhile, Sudharsan completed his fifty. Sudharsan is looking good touch and his strokeplay has been impressive so far. GT now needs to score at around 10 runs per over to complete the chase.
- Over 0-6 (67/1)
Anrich Nortje provided an important breakthrough for the Delhi Capitals as he bowled a back of the length and Gill tried to loft it over mid-off. However, the mistimed shot was caught at the edge of the 30-yard circle. However, no wicket fell after that and the duo of Wriddhiman Saha and Sai Sudharsan kept hitting boundaries now and then. Some of the misfields from DC fielders also helped the cause so GT got a solid start in the first six overs.
Live updates from the first innings
- Over 16-20 (224/4)
After hitting a couple of sixes to Noor Ahmad, Axar Patel was dismissed in the 17th over by the spinner with a flighted delivery on the off-stump. However, Stubbs and Pant joined forces after that to carve aggression in the back end. GT tried the gamble of bowling the penultimate over from Sai Kishore and DC batters accumulated 22 runs from six deliveries. DC then went on to gather 31 runs as some brute hitting from Rishabh Pant helped them take the team to a total of 225. - Over 11-15 (127/3)
The duo is now accelerating the innings as they first amassed 13 runs from the 11th over by Noor Ahmad which included a maximum from Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel. In the 12th over, Pant smacked Mohit Sharma for two boundaries and 12 runs were earned from it. The next two overs were quite calm as they produced 15 runs for the batting side. - Over 7-10 (80/3)
Rishabh Pant has started playing in an aggressive manner while Axar Patel is building the knock in a steady manner. Pant first hit a boundary against Noor Ahmed with a slog sweep. THe duo them amassed 12 runs from the 10th over and have steadied the innings as well. - Over 1-6 (44/3)
Despite the swing being available, Gujarat Titans bowlers didn't bowl on the good length and allowed the batter to go on the backfoot and smash it everywhere they wanted. Fraser McGurk hammered Omarzai and Warrier all over the park. Prithvi Shaw also freed his arms and smashed two boundaries. Sandeep Warrier then made a remarkable comeback with a wicket of Prithvi Shaw and McGurk in the same over. Axar Patel has been promoted in the batting order as he walked in to bat at number three. Shai Hope was also dismissed by Warrier and DC are now reeling at 44/3. - Impact Substitutes
Delhi Capitals: Sumit Kumar, Rasikh Dar Salam, Kumar Kushagra, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav
Gujarat Titans: Sharath BR, Sai Sudharsan, Manav Suthar, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar - Playing XI
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant(wk/c), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha(wk), Shubman Gill(c), David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Warrier - Toss
Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to field against Delhi Capitals.
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