Delhi Capitals won by 5 runs over Gujarat Titans in a thrilling battle at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 2. Delhi Capitals won the toss and opted to bat. They lost 5 wickets within the powerplay. However, a fifty from Aman Hakim Khan and some contributions from Axar Patel and Ripal Patel helped them put up 130 runs in 20 overs as well.
While chasing, Gujarat Titans lost their openers very cheaply. Hardik Pandya tried his best with an unbeaten 59 but he didn’t get much support from the other end. And, a stunning final over from Ishant Sharma sealed the deal for Delhi Capital.
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Here is what the captains and the player of the match said after the game:
Mohammad Shami, Player of the Match said as quoted by Cricbuzz: I just try to stick to my plans. Stick to the areas, the line and length that we discussed. This wasn’t a score that was above par, there was not too much swing. I felt we should have chased this. The mistake was losing wickets at regular intervals, we needed partnerships and they came too late for us. However, plenty of games left. Such things happen
David Warner said as quoted by Cricbuzz: Our bowlers were amazing. Our batters struggled but credit to the way Shami bowled. Credit to the way Aman and Ripal played from then on to get up that score. We just find ways to lose wickets in clumps, I always hate it when there’s a run out. I don’t know what’s happening with our batting. We tried playing positively today with the bat, didn’t come off. We then wanted to come out and swing the ball, get early wickets. Khaleel did well after coming back from injury, and Ishant is forever getting younger. I was nervous when Tewatia was going off, he has a reputation for that kind of stuff. Anrich is our most consistent death bowler, but couldn’t get it right today. But Ishant was so clear with what he wanted to execute for us.
Ishant Sharma said as quoted by Cricbuzz: I keep practicing in the nets. We practice bowling we the new ball, but at the same time we do practice bowling wide yorkers, and today the hard work paid off, I just backed myself and bowled wide yorkers. When you are preparing yourself in the nets we plan to certain batsmen as to what to bowl and it is all about executing it every single time, back yourself and believing in yourself. I played enough cricket him (Tewatia), so was just having fun with him. I knew I had to double bluff him otherwise we know what he can do with the bat. We (The bowlers) don’t think about the target, it is just about executing the plans. From hereon we hope to carry the momentum, keep going forward and hope for the best.
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Hardik Pandya said as quoted by Cricbuzz: (On the last few overs) We would have taken 129 on any given day. Just lost a couple of wickets and in the end, Rahul got us back in the game. I tried my best in the end but it was not to be. ( On the discussion with Abhinav Manohar) We were hoping to get couple of big overs in the middle but we couldn’t get rhythm. It was new for Abhinav as well and it boils down on how I could not finish the game. Full marks to the bowlers and full ownership I couldn’t finish it. Wicket was good enough, it was wicket pressure. They bowled really well, 10 overs for 80 we would have taken. In the end, Rahul got us in the game, otherwise they were quite ahead. We lost this game because I couldn’t get my rhythm. (On Mohammed Shami’s brilliant bowling) I feel sorry for him, if you bowl like that, and restrict a team to 129 and still not win, the batters disappointed. I don’t think the wicket did a lot but full credit to him. It is still lots of games left, we will take all learning from this game and move on. All these things keep happening, that’s the beauty of IPL. We are still on top of the table but we still need to play good cricket.
