Delhi Capitals humble Gujarat Titans in low-scorer

Delhi Capitals put on a stellar show with the ball to bowl Gujarat Titans out for a paltry 89 before finishing off the chase with ease. It left Gujarat with their third loss in their last four games.

Gujarat Titans just couldn’t break free from the chokehold that Delhi Capitals had them in since asking them to bat. The tone was set by the pacers – Ishant Sharma had Shubman Gill chipping to cover and Mukesh Kumar cleaned up Wriddhiman Saha. So regular were they with the breakthroughs that the highest partnership Gujarat managed through the innings was just 18. Sai Sudharsan’s run out, a double-wicket over for Tristan Stubbs all contributed to DC’s relentless excellence with the ball on a pitch that was on the stickier side.

Adding to the bowlers’ accuracy was Rishabh Pant’s excellent wicket-keeping. It kick-started with a brilliant diving catch off Ishant to get David Miller and the quick stumping of Abhinav Manohar, followed by another to get Shahrukh Khan. Pant’s four dismissals was the joint-most for a Delhi franchise wicket-keeper in IPL.

No one stayed in long enough to create an impact with all that could go wrong for them, did. Only Rashidh Khan chanced his arm from the lower-order to score 31 which ended up as the highest score of the innings. The unabated fall of wickets meant that Gujarat were bowled out for the lowest total in their home ground. This was the first time a team didn’t manage to score 100 since the introduction of the Impact Sub.

Mostly smooth, and very quick. Having already suffered heavy defeats in the tournament, DC’s NRR needed a big boost. This presented an opportunity to redeem some of that, and so they came all guns blazing. Jake Fraser-McGurk first set the tone with a 10-ball 20 but with the high-risk approach came the chances. Spencer Johnson got Fraser-McGurk before Sandeep Warrier struck twice to get Prithvi Shaw and Abhishek Porel despite being picked off for boundaries. Eventually, they finished it off under 9 overs to pick up a massive win. The win gave their NRR a much-needed boost as it went from -0.975 to -0.074, which took them up to sixth on the points table.

Brief Scores:
Gujarat Titans 89 in 17.3 overs (Rashid Khan 31; Khaleel Ahmed 1-18, Ishant Sharma 2-08, Mukesh Kumar 3-14, Tristan Stubbs 2-11, Axar Patel 1-17) lost to  Delhi Capitals 92/4 in 8.5 overs (Jake Fraser-Mcgurk 20; Sandeep Warrier 2-40, Spencer Johnson 1-42, Rashid Khan 1-12) by 6 wickets

(Cricbuzz)