New Delhi: The inept technique of young Indian batters against top quality fast bowling compounded Delhi Capitals' worries as they succumbed to an embarrassing six-wicket defeat at the hands of defending champions Gujarat Titans in an IPL match here on Tuesday.
Mohammed Shami (3/41 in 4 overs) and Alzarri Joseph (2/29 in 4 overs) intimidated the Delhi top-order in the first 10 overs while Rashid Khan (3/31 in 4 overs) hardly faced any trouble keeping the batters under check to restrict the home team to a below-par 162 for 8.
Despite Anrich Nortje (2/39 in 4 overs)'s best efforts, young Sai Sudharsan (62 not out off 48 balls) anchored the chase calmly with Titans winning their second successive game in 18.1 overs. David Miller's (31 not out off 16 balls) two sixes and four off Mukesh Kumar in the 16th over towards the end sealed DC's fate decisively.
Axar Patel (36 off 22) was DC's saving grace with bat but since left-handers were batting, David Warner couldn't give him a single over as the match-up wasn't compatible. DC have now lost two matches on the trot and while it is early days in the tournament, it will be surprising if this team, with the kind of Indian talent it has, finishes in top five let alone be a title contender.
The cupboard in terms both Indian batting and bowling talent looks bare and inadequate while competing with the best in the business. Had Axar not used his long handle to good effect, even 150 would have looked a distant reality for DC.
Just a month after Kotla produced a turner for the Test against Australia, the change in nature of the track was palpable as the balls literally flew off the surface. At times, it felt that it wasn't David Warner (37 off 32 balls) or a Sarafaraz Khan's (30 off 33 balls) bat that hit the ball but the other way round.
Shami literally beat Warner's bat for fun in his first two overs, often cutting him into half while Alzarri twice forced umpires to call for concussion checks as Sarfaraz and Abhishek Porel (20 off 11 balls) were hit on the head by well-directed bouncers. To be fair, both looked dazed. Even an international like Rilee Rossouw (0) got a Test match like bouncer first up and was snapped brilliantly at backward point by a diving Rahul Tewatia.
Not being able to avoid the short ball was more due to lack of technique and not regularly facing bowlers of Shami or Alzarri's quality became their undoing. Sarfaraz, a heavy-duty scorer in domestic cricket, couldn't improvise as he found the pace too quick to manoeuvre or improvise his shot selection.
The first two games in IPL against international bowlers is a proof that why former chairman Chetan Sharma's committee or even the current quartet of selectors are wary of picking him for international assignments. A good domestic player, who is out-of-depth against top-grade bowlers.
And it's not Sarfaraz alone. Even Prithvi Shaw isn't inspiring confidence while facing a bowler of Shami's calibre. Shaw's (7) inept technique against fast rising deliveries was once again exposed by the seasoned Shami, who pitched one back of length at a fair pace. The delivery kept climbing on Shaw as he top-edged a pull-shot that was gleefully accepted by Alazarri at mid-on.
Mitchell Marsh was bowled for the second time, this time played on off Shami's bowling as skipper Hardik Pandya very wisely gave him a third over within the Powerplay and the job was done. Skipper Warner, who literally played and missed during the first few overs, still used experience to ride on the pace ad bounce before Alzarri got rid of him.
While Gujarat chased, Nortje boled Wriddhiman Saha with a lethal off-cutter and another fast delivery that moved enough to knock back Shubman Gill's off-stump. DC had some hope when Khaleel Ahmed had Hardik Pandya caught behind but Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar (29) added 53 off 7.2 overs to keep the chase on track. Miller then added finishing touches. (Match report taken from PTI)
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IPL Scoreboard: DC vs GT
Gujarat Titans Innings:
Wriddhiman Saha b Nortje 14
Shubman Gill b Nortje 14
Sai Sudharsan not out 62
Hardik Pandya c Porel b Ahmed 5
Vijay Shankar lbw Marsh 29
David Miller not out 31
Extras: (B-1, LB-1, NB-2, W-4) 8
Total: (For Four Wickets in 18.1 Overs) 163
Fall of Wickets: 1-22, 2-36, 3-54, 4-107.
Bowling: Khaleel Ahmed 4-0-38-1, Mukesh Kumar 4-0-42-0, Anrich Nortje 4-0-39-2, Mitchell Marsh 3.1-0-24-1, Kuldeep Yadav 3-0-18-0.
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Innings report:
Defending champions Gujarat Titans came up with a disciplined bowling effort to restrict Delhi Capitals to 162/8 in the IPL here on Tuesday. Wily Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan was the pick of GT bowlers (3/31) while fiery pace duo of Mohammed Shami (3/41) and Alzarri Joseph (2/29) gave a fine start after skipper Hardik Pandya opted to bowl.
Axar Patel (36; 22b) provided some late fireworks to push Delhi past the 160-mark. Opener David Warner (37; 32b) was the top-scorer for Delhi Capitals.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 162/8; 20 overs (David Warner 37, Sarfaraz Khan 30; Mohammed Shami 3/41, Rashid Khan 3/31, Alzarri Joseph 2/29) vs Gujarat Titans.
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- Delhi Capitals (DC) are struggling as the GT's fast bowlers are making early inroads with openers -- skipper David Warner (37), Prithvi Shaw (7) by Alzarri Joseph. Others including Mitchell Marsh (4), who is having a nightmarish tournament and Rilee Rossouw (0) too were removed cheaply by Shami and Joseph.
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New Delhi: Gujarat Titans won the toss on Tuesday and elected to bowl against the Delhi Capitals here at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Here's what the captains of the respective teams had to say:
David Warner: Looks like a nice wicket. Have to come out with positive intent and post a good total. It's awesome. What a good turnout it is tonight. Hopefully we can make it our fortress. Anrich and Porel come in. Rovman misses out. It's a long tournament, going to be a few harsh calls.
Hardik Pandya: Going to bowl first. Not sure how the wicket is going to play. Obviously losing Kane - we're gutted. Especially for him. As a team we can manage, but gutted for him. Miller comes in for Kane. Sai Sudharsan comes in for Vijay. Not much talking in our team. Just about keeping things simple and focusing on controllables. Pitch looks fantastic. Dew might kick in later.
Teams:
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, David Warner(c), Mitchell Marsh, Rilee Rossouw, Sarfaraz Khan(w), Axar Patel, Abishek Porel, Kuldeep Yadav, Chetan Sakariya, Khaleel Ahmed, Anrich Nortje
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya(c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Joshua Little, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph
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Preview:
A full-blown attack by the Gujarat Titans may hurt the Delhi Capitals hard as the latter lack the bowling guile of international standards to take on a much-rounded Hardik Pandya's side. Gujarat's first outside home match against Delhi Capitals will not dent any of their ambitions on Tuesday even after the loss of Kane Williamson to a knee injury.
Contrarily, DC looks clueless as they did in their last outing against Lucknow Super Giants where they were beaten by a massive 50-run gap. The issue at hand is DC's lack of high-caliber pacers, especially in the absence of their fast-bowling attack leader Anrich Nortje.
They have Chetan Sakariya and Mukesh Kumar in their ranks but despite being hard-working cricketers, they lack the required variations and speed to bring discomfort to the international players. Shubman Gill would take this as another opportunity to pile on his already mountain of runs that he has scored recently while GT's skipper Hardik Pandya would anticipate clobbering the balls well over the ropes with ease given his comfort with the medium pace.
With Khaleel Ahmed, the issue always has been his catching on the field which makes him a one-dimensional player. Even during the training session, he is witnessed dropping high flying catches frequently. The drop of Kyle Mayers at a crucial juncture was one of the reasons behind Delhi losing out in the opener.
The experienced Ishant Sharma, meanwhile, is warming the bench and it can be safely said that he was picked at his base price for showing respect to the player who has featured India in 100 Tests. The fact that he can play as an impact player is out of bounds as his pace has dropped and has lost his skiddy-ness too, both of which were his prime weapons during the peak of his career. However, not all is down in the dumps with the DC camp as both Nortje and Lungi Ngidi have arrived and made themselves available for selections on Tuesday.
The Delhi coach, Ricky Ponting, may even look to upgrade the playing combination by getting Mustafizur Rahaman, an experienced international campaigner, in place of Sakariya which would also lead to Rilee Rossouw to warm the benches.
Meanwhile, the batting too looked out-of-sorts against a high-pace attack in the previous game and David Warner would expect Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan to mend their mistakes and go out all guns blazing. Both had an unforgettable outing in their last match as Prithvi was beaten by the sheer pace of Wood, being unable to bring his bat down on time while Khan was a goner playing the ramp shot.
As for Khan and the eternal question of his no-entry to the Indian squad, the issue has always been his ability to handle short balls, which many believe, doesn't have the technicalities required to play a high-speeding delivery. The openers need to take the game forward when they arrive at the strip.Mohammed Shami and Pandya have the quality in them to make the Delhi batters feel uncomfortable. And with Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal and ever-consistent Rashid Khan, they possess the capability to blow the DC batting away at their own volition.
In the same domain, DC doesn't have the resources to match their opposition's traits as they lack quality players to be substituted as 'impact players'. Ripal Patel, Lalit Yadav, and Aman Hakim Khan are good domestic players but don't have what it takes to take on the international players.Delhi will be desperate for their foreign recruits to up the ante for them.
