By Niharika Raina
New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan picked three-wicket hauls each for Gujarat Titans as they restricted Delhi Capitals to 162/8 in 20 overs on a pitch that had plenty of pace and bounce in Match Seven of IPL 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here.
For Delhi, in middling innings, captain David Warner made 37 while his deputy Axar Patel smashed 36 as they managed to breach the 160-mark. Apart from Shami and Rashid picking 3-41 and 3-31 respectively, Alzarri Joseph dazzled with 2-29.
Shami got a bit of spice from the pitch in an eventful opening over. An away swinger against David Warner disturbed the off-stump, but the bail was unmoved. Though he also cut him in size, Shami was unable to find control, giving away seven wides.
Prithvi Shaw then took on Shami in his next over by flaying a cut over the slip cordon for four. But Shami had the last laugh by having Shaw caught on a pull at mid-on. The senior India pacer had more success with the new ball by castling Mitchell Marsh.
A scratchy Warner got a move on when he slapped Shami through point for four, before pulling Hardik Pandya through the square leg for another boundary. He welcomed Joseph in the seventh over with a brace of boundaries — a smash over mid-off was followed by steering over backward point.
Just when it looked like Warner was set at the crease, he chopped-on off Joseph in the ninth over. Joseph then dismissed Rilee Rossouw with a brute 146kph delivery that took the shoulder edge of an awkward fend and was caught brilliantly by diving backward point.
Debutant Abhishek Porel looked good in his 11-ball 20, including pulling Yash Dayal over square leg for six after being hit on the helmet by a Joseph bouncer before Rashid castled him in the 13th over.
With Sarfaraz Khan struggling to get going despite Josh Little dropping his catch in the 12th over, Axar injected some momentum with a pull and a drive off Rashid and Joseph for boundaries, followed by a stunning loft off the leg-spinner for six.
After playing a sweep off Rashid, Sarfaraz’s painful stay came to an end on the very next ball of the 17th over when he miscued a sweep to deep square leg. Aman Khan slog-swept Rashid for six but sliced straight to extra cover off the leg-spinner.
But Axar continued to do some late-hitting for Delhi, lofting cleanly over long-off for six off Josh Little. In the final over, he brought out a lovely one-handed smash over wide long-on off Shami for six. But two balls later, in a bid to go big, Axar sliced to deep cover. Anrich Nortje’s last ball four took Delhi to above 160.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 162/8 in 20 overs (David Warner 37, Axar Patel 36; Rashid Khan 3-31, Mohammed Shami 3-41) against Gujarat Titans
–IANS
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