Pant and Axar star as Capitals cling on to win a topsy-turvy thriller

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Delhi Capitals 224 for 4 (Pant 88*, Axar 66, Warrier 3-15) beat Gujarat Titans 220 for 8 (Sai Sudharsan 65, Miller 55, Saha 39, Salam 3-44, Kuldeep 2-29) by four runs

In a thrilling IPL 2024 finish, Rashid Khan nearly took Gujarat Titans home in pursuit of 225 against Delhi Capitals. But Mukesh Kumar held his nerve to defend 19 off the last over as DC completed a thrilling four-run victory.

For Rashid to have a shot at chasing down the tall target, GT had B Sai Sudharsan (65 in 39 balls) and David Miller (55 in 23) to thank. They kept GT within touching distance of the climbing required run-rate, and for a brief moment in the end, it felt like they had timed their chase perfectly. However, it wasn't to be, and GT went down to DC for the second time in seven days.

DC themselves had to climb out of a hole to post 224 for 4 after being asked to bat first. Sandeep Warrier's 3 for 15 in the powerplay had left them struggling at 44 for 3, but Rishabh Pant's masterful 43-ball 88 and Axar Patel's 66 in 43 from No. 3 resurrected their innings. Axar then took three catches and a wicket, and also ably supported Kuldeep Yadav (2 for 29) with the ball to ensure DC did just about enough on the night.

Shubman Gill fell early to Anrich Nortje, for the fourth time in seven innings, but that did not slow GT down. Wriddhiman Saha struck 30 in his first 12 balls by expertly clearing the infield, while Sudharsan made full use of an early reprieve off Rasikh Salam's bowling to race off the blocks. They did not let Nortje or Khaleel Ahmed settle in and collected 67 in the powerplay.

But the spinners then bogged Saha down, and Kuldeep dismissed him for 35 in 29 balls. Sudharsan, though dominated through the middle overs, hitting both seamers and spinners through the off side with cuts both in front and behind square. He also came down the pitch on occasion before falling to Salam in an attempt to clear long-off.

With Azmatullah Omarzai, Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia all falling for single-digit scores around Sudharsan's dismissal, GT appeared to have lost steam, needing 73 in 24 balls. However, Miller mauled Nortje for three sixes and a four in a 24-run 17th over to give them hope, completing his own half-century off 21 balls along the way.

But Mukesh Kumar dismissed Miller in the 18th over and, at the time, it seemed like DC had done enough. But Salam leaked 18 runs in the 19th over to make it a shootout between Rashid and Mukesh in the last over.

Mukesh conceded two fours off the first two balls and then another six off the penultimate delivery but held his nerve to get the last ball to land so full that Rashid could not find the elevation he needed.

After Warrier's three-wicket burst had given GT the early advantage, the expectation was that Rashid, Noor Ahmad and R Sai Kishore would strangle DC through the middle overs. But Axar and Pant kept all three at bay with different strategies.

Against Rashid, they only attacked the loose balls, half-trackers or wide deliveries, and eked out 37 runs off him in four wicketless overs. Against Noor, they attacked to leave him with an economy of 12 in three overs.

Such was Pant and Axar's domination in their 113-run stand that Gill did not go to Sai Kishore - their Player of the Match from the last outing - till the 19th over, fearing the match-up of two left-hand batters against a left-arm spinner. When Sai Kishore did come to bowl in the penultimate over of the innings, against right-hand batter Tristan Stubbs following the dismissal of Axar, he was hammered for six, four, six and four in a 22-run over.

Gill then went with the experienced Mohit Sharma instead of Warrier for the 20th, and Pant owned that match-up. When Mohit went full and wide, Pant slapped him over the off side. When Mohit went short or slow, Pant hung back and deposited him over the leg side. And when Mohit missed his yorker, Pant sent him over midwicket. Pant got to 88 after helping DC score 31 in the final over, and his assault left Mohit with the worst bowling figures in IPL history - 0 for 73 - and GT needing 225 to win.

Axar's many contributions

With David Warner sitting out, and DC not keen Pant to bat too early, they pushed Axar as the left-hand batter to bat in the top three. He struck Rashid for slog sweeps over the leg side initially before hitting both him and Noor through the covers off short balls.

Part-timer Shahrukh also faced the same fate before Axar reached his fifty with a boundary off Rashid in the 15th over. He was the majority contributor in the 68-ball 113-run stand with Pant, and it was only in his pursuit of a third six in a row against Noor in the 17th over that he fell on the boundary line, but by then his 66 was already his highest IPL score.

Axar was then a livewire in the field, first back-pedalling at mid-off in the second over to hold on to a catch to dismiss Gill. He was in action again when Saha tried to cut Kuldeep over cover, jumping high and sticking his hands out to pluck the catch. Then, after dropping Sudharsan early in the powerplay, Axar got a chance at redemption by being at long-off late in the chase to take a tricky one.

With the ball, Axar conceded only two fours and a six in his three overs. Neither Saha nor Miller, both in great touch otherwise, failed to put him away in his spell, and it was only Sudharsan's three boundary shots that made him concede 28 in three overs. Axar also dismissed Omarzai in the 11th over, but it was not enough to claim the Player-of-the-Match award, with that one going to his captain instead.