Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Rishabh Pant was completely in the best mode in the first innings of the IPL 2024 clash against Gujarat Titans at Arun Jaitely Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday, April 24.
Pant treated the Delhi crowd with his power-hitting prowess, depositing the balls into the stands with effortless ease. The crowd went berserk with every hitting by Rishabh Pant as he painted a strong display of his batting brilliance under the floodlights of the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
In the final over of the Delhi Capitals' innings, Rishabh Pant launched an assault on Mohit Sharma as he smashed him for 31 runs. The brutal onslaught by DC captain left the Gujarat Titans shell-shocked as they were helpless against Rishabh Pant's sheer annihilation with the bat in the final over of the first innings.
On the first ball of the final over, Mohit Sharma gave just two runs to Pant before bowling a wide in the next delivery. In the next five deliveries, Rishabh Pant mercilessly targeted the Gujarat Titans pacer as he hammered him for 28 runs, including four sixes and a four, leaving the crowd in awe of his power-hitting prowess. The spectators at the stadium were elated to witness the return of vintage Rishabh Pant in his comeback season.
Rishabh Pant played a phenomenal unbeaten knock of 88 off 43 balls at an impressive strike rate of 204.65. His innings consisted of five fours and eight sixes. Delhi Capitals' skipper's brutal batting against Mohit Sharma in the final over propelled the hosts to a formidable total of 224/4 in 20 overs.
Meanwhile, Mohit Sharma achieved an unwanted record as he registered the worst bowling figures in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL). The 35-year-old went wicketless while conceding a staggering 73 runs with an economy rate of 18.20 in his four overs spell. The unwanted bowling record in IPL was previously held by former Sunrisers Hyderabad's pacer Basil Thampi, leaking 70 runs in the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2018.
Delhi Capitals triumph over Gujarat Titans to earn crucial points
Skipper Rishabh Pant and all-rounder Axar Patel were the star batters for Delhi Capitals as their batting brilliance propelled the hosts put up a formidable total on the board. Patel contributed with a knock of 66 off 43 balls.
Tristan Stubbs' played a quickfire cameo unbeaten knock of 26 off 9 balls to help Delhi Capitals post a defendable total on the board.
After posting a total of 224/4, Delhi Capitals managed to restrict Gujarat Titans to 220/8 in 20 overs despite brilliant half-centuries by Sai Sudharsan (65) and David Miller (55) and on-slaught by Rashid Khan (21* off 11 balls).
With 19 runs off six balls to win the match for Gujarat Titans, Rashid smashed two fours and a six off Mukesh Sharma but the visitors fell just five runs short of achieving the target.
With a win over GT, Delhi Capitals earned two crucial points and moved to sixth spot on the points table with four wins and five losses while accumulating 8 points after nine games.
