IPL 2024: Rasikh’s three-fer and Pant-Axar’s fifty runs enable DC defeat GT by four runs

In a thrilling run-fest at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday, the Delhi Capitals defeated the Gujarat Titans by four runs. Captain Rishabh Pant enthralled the home crowd with an unbeaten 88 off 43 balls, while Axar Patel hit a 43-ball 66 and impact player Rasikh Salam picked a three-fer.

Following Axar and Pant’s fifty-fives and Tristan Stubbs’ perfect 26 to help DC reach a massive 224/4, GT quickly scored runs due to 65 from B Sai Sudarshan and 55 from David Miller. But in a true run-fest, DC prevailed in the end to grab the vital two points.

Thanks to Sandeep Warrier’s three strikes during the power play, GT gained the upper hand after choosing to bowl first and put DC in danger. However, Pant and Axar took their time before unleashing a breathtaking attack on spinners, combining for a vital 113 runs for the fourth wicket.

Axar’s eye-catching knock, which included five fours and four sixes at a strike-rate of 153.49, earned him a promotion to the number three count. Pant was at his brilliant best against Sunrisers Hyderabad, blasting eight sixes and five fours at a strike-rate of 204.6, despite being unreliable in his 44.

Because of their exceptional batsmanship, the GT spinners were rendered useless in the middle overs, and the visiting bowlers were quickly knocked out in the last overs. Furthermore, DC scored 97 runs in their last five overs, despite Warrier not bowling out his final over.

DC reached 34/0 in three overs because to six lovely boundaries struck by Prithvi Shaw and Jake Fraser-McGurk. However, Warrier recovered in the fourth over after giving up 12 runs in the first over.

The quick bowler first got Fraser-McGurk to mistime a pull and flick off the bottom edge to deep square leg. Noor Ahmad then raced in from deep square leg to make a diving catch. DC finished the six-over period at 44/3 as Warrier claimed his third power-play wicket when Shai Hope cut away from his body and was caught at backward point.

Axar started moving, first smashing a drive off Omarzai and then hitting a slog-sweep six on a googly from Rashid Khan. Following their respective fours and sixs off Rashid’s short balls, he and Pant proceeded to slog-sweeping Noor Ahmad.

While Pant feasted on Mohit Sharma’s short deliveries by pulling and slicing to grab a pair of fours, Axar continued to excel against spinners, driving and cutting with ease for his boundaries. Axar reached his fifty in 37 balls with a drawn four off Rashid after lofting a drive off Shahrukh Khan for six.

Pant shown great pleasure in the 16th over against Mohit, as he blasted a slower ball over long-off for two sixes and then brought up the fourth-wicket stand’s century. Then, in the 17th over, Axar hit two consecutive sixes off Noor before holing out to long-on to fall for a 43-ball 66.

Pant was greeted with thunderous ovation from the fans after hitting a full-toss from Mohit over long-on for six to reach his fifty in thirty-four balls. In the 19th over, GT used the left-arm spin of R Sai Kishore to counterbalance Tristan Stubbs’ right-handedness.

But in the 22-run over, the batsman clubbed the spinner for two massive sixes over long-on after creaming the drives twice in the space between extra-cover and long-off. Pant lost balance against Mohit in the last over, but he still managed to slice a four and clear long-on for six. With three maximums on the last three balls of the innings, he unleashed his pull, loft, and swivel, scoring 31 runs off the last over.

Shubman Gill, who was chasing 225, fell short of mid-on off Anrich Nortje, mistiming the loft, in his 100th IPL game. During the remaining power play, Wriddhiman Saha and Sudharsan struck eleven boundaries between them, including 17 runs off Khaleel Ahmed in the third over.

After being dropped by Axar at mid-on off of Rasikh’s bowling, Sudarshan got a little of luck as GT finished the power play at 67/1. When Sudarshan cut and glanced at Axar for four straight, he did it neatly. However, Saha struck hard as Kuldeep Yadav hit, and Axar sprang just in time to pull the catch out of thin air.

Sudarshan reached his fifty in 29 balls, but when Axar had Omarzai caught by Fraser-McGurk, who came racing in and leaping forward from deep mid-wicket to clinch a stunning catch, GT went from 94/1 to 98/3. Miller and Sudarshan both struck a boundary before the former ducked to long off against Rasikh.

Rasikh then removed Shahrukh Khan, firstly by catching Pant’s catch on Kuldeep’s last delivery, and then by catching Rahul Tewatia’s catch when Pant stood up to the stumps. Miller pounced on Nortje’s full and short deliveries, smashing three sixes and a four, before completing his fifty in 21 balls with a brace as 24 runs came off the 17th over. Miller required 73 runs off 24 balls.

Miller looked at Mukesh for four after Rashid was dropped by Abishek Porel on the first ball of the eighteenth over. He then clipped straight to deep backward square leg and fell for a 23-ball fifty-five. With 37 runs required from 12 balls, Rashid sent Rasikh hurtling for a boundary, and Stubbs even denied him a six. Kishore then kept the game alive with back-to-back sixes before being caught by the pacer.

With 19 runs needed in the last over, Rashid started by hitting Mukesh for a four in the distance between long-on and mid-wicket. Rashid was ready to cut over extra cover for a boundary as the bowler pitched it wide.

Following two dot balls, Rashid hit a six-figure shot over long off. Rashid struck off a yorker with three runs required from the last ball, but DC kept their nerve to win narrowly. The ball went one bounce to long-off.

Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans 220/8 in 20 overs (B) were defeated by Delhi Capitals 224/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 88 not out; Axar Patel 66; Sandeep Warrier 3-15). By a margin of four runs, Sai Sudharsan 65, David Miller 55; Rasikh Salam 3-44, Kuldeep Yadav 2-29)