NEW DELHI, APRIL 25
Delhi Capitals survived Rashid Khan's onslaught in the last over to register an exhilarating four-run victory over Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.
Needing 19 off fast bowler Mukesh Kumar's final six balls, Rashid (21 not out) clubbed back-to-back boundaries off the first two balls and then a six off the penultimate ball before Gujarat finished at 220-8 in yet another high-scoring thriller in IPL this season.
Captain Rishabh Pant, returning to competitive cricket after his car accident in late December, staked his T20 World Cup claims with a robust unbeaten 88 off 43 balls which propelled Delhi to 224-4 after Gujarat won the toss and chose to field first.
Pant provided a perfect finish to Delhi's innings when he smashed Mohit Sharma for 31 runs in the last over as the Gujarat fast bowler registered most expensive bowling figures in IPL history with 0-73.
Tristan Stubbs scored a rapid 26 off seven balls and Delhi's 53 runs off the final two overs were also the most scored by a team in the IPL off the last 12 balls of the innings.
Gujarat skipper Shubman Gill (6) sliced a catch at mid-off off Anrich Nortje's third ball and got dismissed cheaply in his 100th IPL game before impact player Sai Sudharsan (65) and Wriddhiman Saha (39) brought the chase back on track with a 82-run second-wicket stand.
Delhi came back through spinners Kuldeep Yadav (2-29) and Axar Patel (1-28) in the middle overs before David Miller (55) hit a 21-ball half-century and swung the momentum in Gujarat's favor.
Miller, who hit three sixes and six boundaries, holed out in the 18th over but Rashid, who escaped a dropped catch before he had scored, countercharged in the last over but just fell short to get Gujarat over the line.
Earlier, Axar Patel's (66) elevation to No. 3 proved a perfect ploy for Delhi after fast bowler Sandeep Warrier (3-15) had struck thrice in the batting power play and restricted them to 44-3.
Patel and Pant shared 113-run fourth-wicket stand before Patel holed out at long-on after scoring his personal best in the IPL that featured four sixes and five boundaries.
Stubbs then clubbed two sixes and two boundaries off Sai Kishore's 22-run penultimate over before Pant provided a perfect finish against Sharma in the final over.
Delhi rose to No. 6 with its fourth win in nine games, while Gujarat slipped to No. 7 on inferior net run-rate after losing its fifth game in nine matches.
