In an exciting match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Delhi Capitals beat Gujarat Titans by five runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday. Skipper Hardik Pandya's unbeaten fifty (59*) and Mohammed Shami's four-wicket haul (4-11) went in vain as Gujarat Titans couldn't chase down the target of 131 runs set by Delhi Capitals.
Gujarat Titans won the toss and opted to field first. Seasoned pacer Mohammed Shami's sensational four-fer helped Titans restrict Delhi Capitals to a modest score of 130/8 in 20 overs despite a fighting fifty from Aman Hakim Khan (51 off 44). 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.
Chasing the target, Delhi Capitals had a poor start, losing three wickets inside the Power-play and scoring just 31 runs. However, skipper Hardik Pandya walked into the middle and gave company to Shubman Gill. But Anrich Nortje dismissed Gill, who timed the ball straight to the cover fielder. Vijay Shankar, who has been in good form this season, was dismissed by Ishant Sharma, leaving Titans in a precarious position at 26-3 after 4.6 overs.
Defending champions Gujarat needed a partnership to rebuild their innings, but David Miller tried to play a cute paddle sweep off Kuldeep Yadav and was bowled. Titans were 32-4 when Miller got out, and Hardik Pandya needed some support, which came from Abhinav Manohar. The duo played cautiously against spin twins Kuldeep and Axar Patel, who were bowling nicely to keep things in control for Delhi.
With the required run rate increasingly sharp, Hardik Pandya decided to free his arms and got a few boundaries to get his fifty in 44 balls, but Abhinav was not able to find boundaries and was dismissed by Khaleel Ahmed in the first ball of the 18th over. Anrich Nortje came to bowl the 19th over with Gujarat needing 33 runs in 12 balls. Tewatia hit Nortje for three consecutive sixes, bringing the equation in Gujarat's favour.
With 12 runs needed of 6 balls for Gujarat to win, experienced Ishant Sharma had the big task in hand but he held his nerve, dismissed Tewatia and gave just five runs, securing a thrilling victory for Delhi Capitals.
The victory takes Delhi Capitals to the fourth position in the IPL 2023 points table with five wins out of ten matches, while Gujarat Titans remain in the sixth position with four wins out of ten matches.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 130/8 in 20 overs (Aman Hakim Khan 51, Axar Patel 27; Md Shami 4-11, Mohit Sharma 2-33) beat Gujarat Titans 125-6 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 59 not out, Abhinav Manohar 26; Ishant Sharma 2-23, Khaleel Ahmed 2-24) by 5 runs.