NEW DELHI: Rishabh Pant's unbeaten 88 propelled the Delhi Capitals to a four-run victory over the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League match on Wednesday. After being invited to bat first, Pant (88* off 43 balls) and Axar Patel (66 off 43 balls) posted contrasting half-centuries, guiding Delhi Capitals to a formidable total of 224 for 4.
In response, Sai Sudarshan (65 off 29) and David Miller (55 off 23) reached half-centuries for GT but fell short of the target, ending their innings at 220 for 8 in their 20 overs.
Delhi Capitals ultimately secured victory and snatched two crucial points, but the game went down to the wire, leaving everyone on the edge of their seats.
GT's star batter David Miller shone as a bright spot for Gujarat, showcasing his aggressive batting in the 17th over, where he consistently found the boundaries and revived Gujarat's hopes. Unfortunately, Miller's untimely departure proved costly for the Shubman Gill-led side.
Despite Rashid's determined efforts in the final over, Gujarat Titans ultimately fell just four runs short.
Gujarat Titans captain Shubman hailed his team's fighting efforts in the mammoth chase.
"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 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," Shubman said after the match.
"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 on 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," the GT skipper said.
Gujarat Titans will next face Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday.
