It’s become the norm for IPL 2024 games to conclude in a tie if 400 or more runs are hit, so it was expected that the Delhi Capitals vs. Gujarat Titans match at Arun Jaitley Stadium will follow suit. In this tournament’s tenth edition, a 400-plus aggregate was achieved in the game on Wednesday. And the left-handers on both sides ended up being the main entertainment in this game.
The takedown of spin
In the IPL, Axar Patel had only once, in 108 innings, come in at number three. After losing three wickets during the powerplay, DC didn’t have the best start, scoring at a rate of seven runs per over after seven overs. Axar scored just nine runs off his first fifteen balls and hit just one four out of the first eleven balls he faced. At the time, his promotion didn’t seem reasonable, but as the innings went on, it became clear why.
Axar faced 43 deliveries by the end of the 17th over, which was the end of his innings. Of those, 25 came from the spin combo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad from Afghanistan, who Axar skillfully neutralized as well as secured quick runs. With two fours and a six off the wrist spin pair, Rishabh Pant scored 24 off 17 to match them. However, Axar’s contribution to their defeat was more noticeable as he scored 46 runs off of them in only 25 deliveries and 62 off of just 36 in their 113-run fourth wicket stand with Pant.
“I had to go after the spinners. We should pursue a strong conclusion and deepen our partnership, Rishabh and I discussed. Axar spoke with the broadcasters during the innings break and remarked, “It was a sticky wicket, some balls were skidding and some were slow.” “Having the right mindset is crucial; you can’t consider attacking one bowler while playing off of another. If it was within striking distance, the plan was to attack; if not, take the singles and twos and alternate the strikes. We continued to think like attackers.”
The murderous overstriding
Axar believed that when the fourth wicket partnership set about laying the groundwork for the squad, 170-180 would have been a respectable total. However, Pant’s outstanding performance turned it into 224, which ultimately resulted in a few humiliating records for Mohit Sharma.
Pant had scored 34 off 26 at the conclusion of the 15th over, but he had already assessed Mohit after hitting a few boundaries against him in the 12th. Pant hit two sixes off the pacer in the sixteenth over. When he hit Mohit for his third six, he reached fifty as well.
The DC captain, however, did the most damage in the final over when he struck Mohit for four sixes and a four, giving him 0-73, the most expensive score in the IPL. The 20th over saw Mohit give up 31 runs, making it the joint third-most expensive final over in IPL history. It was also the sixth time that Mohit has scored 50 or more runs in an IPL match, the highest for a bowler.
Mohit accounted for over 70% of the runs that Pant scored throughout his inning. Pant accounted for almost 85% of Mohit’s runs given up at bat.
Maximum runs scored by a batter in an IPL innings against a bowler
GT left usary and cautious
Additionally, the Titans’ matchup-based computation went astray towards the end of the first inning. For the first eighteen overs, R Sai Kishore, who took four wickets in their previous match, was not used to bowl. GT believed that deploying the left-arm finger spinner wouldn’t be the best option given that there would be two left-handers in the middle for more than 11 overs. But it was during the 19th over—when the right-handed Tristan Stubbs would get his first hit—that he was brought in.
However, the move backfired horribly. Before Pant wreaked havoc in the last over, Stubbs had hit Sai Kishore for two sixes and two fours. They needed just 18 deliveries to complete an uninterrupted 67-run stand. They had the third-best scoring rate for a fifty-plus stand in the IPL with their run-rate of 22.33.
In the last two overs of the IPL, the most runs scored by a team
In an attempt to defend the team’s preference for certain matchups, Sai Kishore said, “You have to put yourself in the shoes of the captain and the coach, and how they’ll be thinking.” “If I was leading the side and if there was some other spinner or some other bowler whom you feel there could be an extra chance for scoring, maybe you’ll be slightly hesitant (to use the bowler).”
Have contests received too much attention? “That’s a very risky question,” Sai Kishore retorted. It doesn’t always work; occasionally it does. The size of the ground also play a role. Let’s say the wicket we are playing on has larger borders and is a little slower. I bowled the 19th over in the last game (against the Punjab Kings) with two lefties. It didn’t seem like anything to be concerned about, in my opinion. Ashish Nehra is a strong believer in putting aside one’s ego. As a player, you should be able to accept every call that is made for the benefit of the team.”
GT’s warriors with left hands
The Gujarat Titans were also within striking distance of DC’s total thanks to their left-handed lineup, but they were unable to score a run on the last ball. It was reduced to five when Rashid hit two fours and a six against Mukesh Kumar in the final over. However, Sai Kishore kept them in the chase earlier by hitting two maximums off Rasikh Salam in the 19th. In relation to that, David Miller’s 23-ball 55 was essential to the Titans’ continued possibility. And much earlier, they were kept in the chase by Sai Sudharsan’s 39-ball 65.
DC had their left-handedness going in their second innings as well, thanks to Kuldeep Yadav’s spell (2 for 29 off 4 overs), Axar’s 1-28 along with three catches, and Pant’s accurate takes behind the stumps. Upon finishing, they overtook GT in the points standings.
