Fifties from B Sai Sudharsan and David Miller went in vain as Delhi Capitals managed to edge Gujarat Titans by four runs in a thrilling run-fest to secure their fourth win of the tournament at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday.
After captain Rishabh Pant slammed an unbeaten 88 off 43 balls, while Axar Patel hit a 43-ball 66 to lift DC to a mammoth 224/4, GT were quick in their run-scoring, thanks to 65 from Sudarshan, followed by 55 from Miller. But DC triumphed in the end to get those crucial two points in a proper run-fest.
Chasing 225, Shubman Gill fell early in his 100th IPL game after mistiming the loft to mid-on off Anrich Nortje. Wriddhiman Saha and Sudharsan hit ten boundaries between themselves in the remainder of the power-play, including taking 17 runs off Khaleel Ahmed in the third over.
Sudarshan had some luck on his side, after being dropped on 17 by Axar at mid-on on Rasikh Salam’s bowling, as GT ended the power-play at 67/1. Sudarshan was neat in cutting and glancing Axar Patel for consecutive fours. But Kuldeep Yadav struck as Saha slashed hard and Axar jumped in the nick of time to pluck the catch out of thin air.
Sudarshan completed his fifty in 29 balls, but saw GT go from 94/1 to 98/3 as Axar had Azmatullah Omarzai caught by Jake Fraser-McGurk rushing in and diving forward from deep mid-wicket to complete a sensational catch. Sudarshan and Miller would hit a boundary each, before the former holed out to long-off against Rasikh.
Rasikh then took out Shahrukh Khan, as Rishabh Pant took a sharp catch after standing up to the stumps, followed by him taking Rahul Tewatia’s catch on Kuldeep’s last ball. With 73 runs needed off 24 balls, Miller feasted on Nortje’s short and full balls by hitting a four and three sixes before reaching his fifty in 21 balls with a brace as 24 runs came off the 17th over.
After Rashid Khan was dropped by Abishek Porel on first ball of the 18th over, Miller glanced Mukesh for four, before clipping straight to deep backward square leg and fall for a 23-ball 55. With 37 runs needed off 12 balls, Rashid worked Rasikh for a boundary and Tristan Stubbs even saved a six of him, followed by R Sai Kishore keeping match alive with consecutive sixes, before being castled by the pacer.
The equation came down to 19 runs in the final over, and Rashid began by whipping Mukesh for a four in the gap between long-on and mid-wicket. When the pacer pitched it wide, Rashid was quick to slash over extra cover for a boundary.
After two dot balls, Rashid lofted a six over long-off. With three runs needed off the last ball, Rashid hit off a yorker, but the ball went one bounce to long-off, as DC held their nerve to get a tight win.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 224/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 88 not out; Axar Patel 66; Sandeep Warrier 3-15) beat Gujarat Titans 220/8 in 20 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 65, David Miller 55; Rasikh Salam 3-44, Kuldeep Yadav 2-29) by four runs
