Who won yesterday's IPL match? Gujarat Titans (GT) hosted Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday (April 17) in match 32 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
DC captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to field first. Star GT opener and skipper Shubman Gill (8 runs off 6 balls) failed to fire, as Ishant Sharma sent him back to the dugout in the second over of the evening. Gill's opening partner Wriddhiman Saha (2 off 10 balls) was the next one to depart, chopping on a short-of-length delivery from Mukesh Kumar in the fourth over of the innings.
Two balls later, young Sai Sudharsan (12 off 9) was run out at the non-striker's end, courtesy a direct hit from Sumit Kumar. The wickets continued to tumble as Ishant struck again, this time having David Miller (2 off 6) caught behind. The score read 30-4 after 5 overs and the hosts were in all sort of trouble.
Their woes were to compound with wickets off back-to-back balls in the ninth over. Tristan Stubbs first had Abhinav Manohar stumped, then dislodged Impact Substitute Shahrukh Khan off his very first delivery to leave GT tottering.
Southpaw Rahul Tewatia tried to steady the ship a bit and had got to 10 off 14 balls, before Axar Patel trapped him in front. The home team were seven down with just 66 runs on the board after 11.2 overs.
If not for Rashid Khan, GT's innings might have folded even sooner, but the talismanic Afghan all-rounder displayed some resistance and scored a 24-ball 31 before Mukesh had him caught behind - Pant effecting his fourth dismissal of the night. Mohit Sharma (2 off 14) holed out off Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh cleaned up Noor Ahmad (1 off 7) to end with three wickets. The Capitals bundled out Gujarat in 17.3 overs for a paltry total of 89, which is the lowest team score recorded in this season thus far.
If someone was wondering whether the capitulation was caused by the pitch, their apprehension was soon dispelled by the way DC began their chase. The visitors rattled off 25 runs in the first two overs before Spencer Johnson had Jake Fraser-McGurk caught at midwicket. By then, Jake had hit a quickfire 10-ball 20. His opening partner Prithvi Shaw (7 off 6) soon followed suit, fending off a bouncer straight to short third.
The two quick wickets did not derail Delhi's chase, however. Impact Sub Abishek Porel smashed a 7-ball 15 and Shai Hope scored 19 runs off 10 deliveries to put their team on the cusp of victory. Captain Pant then took charge and stayed unbeaten on 16 off 11 balls alongside Sumit Kumar (9 off 9) to lead the visitors to facile six-wicket win, with a whopping 67 balls to spare.
For his two catches, two stumpings and finishing touches in the DC chase, Pant was named Player of the Match.
Brief Scores: GT 89 all out in 17.3 overs (Rashid Khan 31; Mukesh Kumar 3/14, Ishant Sharma 2/8) lost to DC 92/4 in 8.5 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 20, Shai Hope 19, Rishabh Pant 16 not out; Sandeep Warrier 2/40) by six wickets.
Points Table Update
The win was DC's third in seven IPL 2024 games so far. After suffering four losses in their first five games, back-to-back victories have pushed Pant and Co up to the sixth spot in the points table.
GT, too have three wins from seven matches but due to their inferior net run rate to DC (-1.303, as against -0.074), Gill's team is currently in seventh position.
