At the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, the 40th game of the ongoing IPL 2024 featured the Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans.
DC started their innings slowly after being called to bat and ended up at 44 for three in the sixth over. Nevertheless, a noteworthy alliance between captain Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel, the new No. 3, helped to steady the innings with a strong 113-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Then, in the final overs, Pant went into beast mode, launching DC to a massive 224 for four—a total that at one point appeared unthinkable since they were barely able to reach 170. In addition to Pant’s unbeaten 88 off 43 balls, which included eight sixes and five fours, Tristian Stubbs made a rapid cameo of 26 off seven balls.
Despite losing their captain Shubman Gill early for just 13 runs, GT made a great start in the chase, accumulating runs at a rapid pace. Wriddhiman Saha and Sudarshan, who each contributed 39 and 65, respectively, made up a strong partnership that kept GT in the running.
Also read: IPL 2024: Gujarat Titans 2nd innings highlights against DC in Match 40
The game gained tremendous momentum after David Miller’s brilliant 55 off 23 balls. Even though Rashid Khan’s late cameo increased the tension, the Delhi Capitals eventually prevailed by a slim margin of four runs despite some shoddy bowling in the final overs. With an outstanding four-over spell that saw him give up just 29 runs and take two vital wickets, Kuldeep Yadav shone out for DC.
The losing skipper, Shubman Gill, said:
I think we played some really good cricket, disappointing to lose in the end, but great character shown by everyone. Great fight till the end and we never thought we were out of the game at any point. When you’re re chasing 224, there’s no point in talking about plans, just go out and score runs. I think impact player has a bit of a role (in making the matches high scoring), even if you lose extra wickets, extra cushion is there for the batters to keep going and it gives the license for the batters to keep going till the end.
At one stage, we thought we would be able to restrict them to 200-210, but we gave away some extra runs in the last 2-3 overs. But this is a smallish ground, we spoke about the same when we went out to chase. Execution becomes very important, if there’s a set batter or a finisher, you’ll have to execute well. It’s okay if there’s something in the wicket, but on pitches like this, you’ll have to make sure that you execute all your plans perfectly, be it the yorkers or the variations.
Winning skipper Rishabh Pant said:
Nortje was having a tough time. T20 is a funny game, after 14-15 overs the ball was coming on nicely. So we wanted to trust Rasikh, always trust someone who is bowling well in a game. I think it is about instincts as a captain, it will come off sometimes. Happy it worked today. Surely at 43/3, we wanted to just keep going and target their main spinners. If we get something, we will take it on and keep rotating the strike.
Everyday that I’m in the middle, I feel better. Every hour on the field matters, I love being on the field. I try to give it my 100% and it takes some time sometimes. I think the first six in the match gives me the confidence in a game. The more time I spend in the centre, the better I feel.
Player of the Match Rishabh Pant said:
Happy to get the win. These two points are very important. Amazing game. When we went into the last over, knew it was going to be very tight. We had a plan, coach and captain wanted one over when Tewatia came into bat. Luckily it worked out. You have to read the batsmen and see what they are trying to do. We batted well, 225 is a good total. I didn’t want to try too much when I came into bowl.
Just focused on my lines and lengths and saw what the batters were trying to do. (On Tewatia’s wicket) I bowled a few balls into the wicket to him, thought he might slog-sweep, it was a good plan from the keeper and we got the wicket.
India
