Ahmedabad, May 2 () Seasoned pacer Mohammed Shami’s sensational four-fer (4-11) helped Gujarat Titans restrict Delhi Capitals to 130/8 despite a fighting fifty from Aman Hakim Khan (51 off 44) in Match No. 44 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Narendra Modi Stadium, here on Tuesday.
Apart from Shami, Mohit Sharma (2-33) and Rashid Khan (1-28) were the other wicket-takers for Titans while Axar Patel (27 off 30) and Ripal Patel (23 off 13) were the other main contributors with the bat after Aman.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Delhi Capitals were off to a horrific start, losing five wickets inside the Power-play. The horror show started in the very first ball of the innings when Phil Salt toe-ended a swinging delivery bowled by Shami to cover, where David Miller took a simple catch.
Thereafter, a confusion between Priyam Garg and David Warner resulted in the Delhi Capitals skipper getting run out with Rashid Khan dislodging the bails at the non-striker’s end, on a no-ball. Rilee Rossow, who came into the playing XI for Mitchell Marsh, also couldn’t do much as a classic swing delivery from Shami dismissed the South African batter.
Continuing his sensational show, Shami bowled another beauty to Manish Pandey to remove him with Wriddhiman Saha taking a stunning catch behind the wicket. In the last delivery of the same over, the duo once again combined to dismiss Priyam Garg, who failed to negotiate the slightly late movement, leaving Delhi Capitals struggling at 23-5 at the end of 5 overs.
Shami, who was extracting the juice available in the pitch due to wet weather around, had the chance of getting the fifer but Axar Patel and Aman Hakim Khan, negotiated his last over well. However, Shami, who bowled all his four overs on the trot, single-handedly had Delhi on the mat by the end of the seventh over.
From there on, Axar and Aman rebuilt the Delhi innings as they rotated the strike nicely and got the odd boundary and six against the Gujarat bowlers. The pair added a sedate fifty-run stand for the sixth wicket but Mohit Sharma was once again incisive in the middle overs and ended that partnership, by taking the huge wicket of Axar.
Delhi were 73-6 after 14 overs when Axar got out and they needed something miraculous from their lower-order batter to post a competitive total. The likes of Aman Khan and Ripal Patel showed some intent and hit Mohit Sharma and Josh Little for a few timely boundaries and sixes, giving some impetus to the Capitals’ innings.
Aman smashed Mohit for a six to complete his half-century in 41 balls as Delhi looked to get the desired finish. In the penultimate over of the innings, Ripal welcomed Rashid Khan by a six but the leg-spinner removed Aman Khan later in the over with Abhinav Manohar taking a good catch at the deep.
Mohit Sharma dismissed Ripal Patel to get his 100th IPL wicket and bowled an excellent last over to keep Delhi Capitals to 130-8 in 20 overs.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 130/8 in 20 overs (Aman Hakim Khan 51, Axar Patel 27; Md Shami 4-11, Mohit Sharma 2-33) vs Gujarat Titans.
ak/bsk
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