Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: After having come very close to sealing the match from an almost impossible position, David Miller had a brain fade moment that cost Delhi Capitals the game against Gujarat Titans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Wednesday night.With just two runs needed for a win off two balls, Miller refused to take a single after playing Prasidh Krishna’s penultimate delivery to fine leg, which would have tied the scores.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Next, his endeavour to pull a win off the final ball failed to materialise as he missed a short delivery from Prasidh. Non-striker Kuldeep tried to rush for the single but he was run out by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler’s direct hit as Titans registered their first win of the season by the barest of margins — a solitary run — in an edge-of-the-seat thriller.Needing 36 to win off the last two overs, the Capitals’ chances of winning the game appeared dead and buried. But Miller, batting with an injured hand, produced a late twist by smashing 23 runs of the penultimate over bowled by Mohammed Siraj.With 13 needed to win off the last over, Vipraj Nigam further raised Capitals’ hopes by hitting Prasidh Krishna for a four off the first ball before getting out off the next. Miller then deposited the fourth ball from Prasidh high into the stands, reducing the equation to two of two before the South African’s poor thinking cost DC the match.In a game in which bat dominated the ball, it was wily old fox Rashid Khan who proved to be the gamechanger for Titans. With his clever variations of leg-breaks and googlies, Rashid claimed three wickets to halt Delhi. The Rashid show came after the Titans batting triumvirate of Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler and Washington Sundar had set up the match for them with three contrasting half-centuries to power their team to 210/4.
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Chasing an imposing target, the Capitals seemed well on their way when openers Pathum Nissanka and KL Rahul gave them a flying start with a 76-run partnership. Rashid’s performance also put into shade a sublime batting show from KL Rahul, who showed that class and elegance can co-exist in the T20 format by hitting a classy 92 (52 balls, 11×4, 5×6).Earlier, the standout knock for Titans came from Buttler (52; 27 balls; 3×4, 5×6). Gill made a well-compiled 70 (45 balls, 4×4, 5×6) while the versatile Washington Sundar fell in the final over for 55.NUMBER GAMES
- 1 – Gujarat Titans’ one-run triumph is their narrowest victory margin in the IPL.
- 4 – DC have recorded four defeats by one-run margins. The other three came vs CSK in 2015, vs Gujarat Lions in 2016 and vs RCB in 2021.
- 70 – Shubman Gill’s fourth fifty vs DC is his 27th in the IPL. Seventeen of his 27 fifties have come for the Titans and 10 for KKR.
