Rishabh Pant all but sealed his place as India's first-choice wicketkeeper for the T20 World Cup with a combative unbeaten half-century in Delhi Capitals' narrow win over Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday. Skipper Pant and Axar Patel forged a thrilling stand of 113 runs from 68 balls en route to quick-fire individual half-centuries to take DC to 224 for 4 in their must-win game. In reply, Sai Sudarshan (65 off 29) and David Miller (55 off 23) scored fifties, while Rashid Khan hit an 11-ball 21 not out, but still couldn't take GT over the line, finishing 220 ahead 8 in their 20 overtime hours.
The win helped DC jump two places in the points table and reach number 6. Meanwhile, Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians dropped one place each to move to 7th and 8th positions respectively. The rest of the table remained unchanged.
Here is the updated IPL 2024 points table –
Virat Kohli continues to retain the Orange Cap by topping the scorers chart with 379 runs from 8 matches while Jasprit Bumrah has the Purple Cap with 13 wickets from 8 matches.
Sent to bat, Pant led from the front and remained unbeaten on 88 off 43 balls (5X4s, 8X6s). His innings proved to be a timely reminder for the national selectors, who are likely to pick him in India's first XI against Pakistan in the World T20 match in New York, barring fitness issues.
Pant's maturity was on display as he played his innings brilliantly in the company of Axar, who made 66 off 43 balls after being promoted to third. His innings was littered with five fours and four sixes.
Chasing 225, GT lost skipper Shubman Gill in the second over but Wriddhiman Saha (39) played some beautiful shots and shared 82 runs for the second wicket along with Impact Sub Sai Sudharsan to keep GT in the hunt.
But once Saha departed, Azmatullah Omarzai was also brilliantly caught by Jake Fraser-McGurk at deep midwicket off Axar.
But Sudharsan, who was reprieved in the fifth over, used his long handle to great effect to score his fifty off 29 balls.
But with the asking price constantly creeping up, Sudharsan had to go for his shots, which ultimately led to his downfall when he was caught at long-on by Axar at Salam. He hit seven fours and two sixes.
Miller (55 off 23, 6X4s, 3X6s) then put on a show to take them closer to the target and once he was out, Rashid gave GT hope with an 11-ball 21-run unbeaten cameo.
Needing 19 runs off the last over, Rashid hit Mukesh Kumar for two consecutive fours in the first two balls and then sent the pacer over the fence in the penultimate ball to reduce the deficit to 5 after the last ball.
But Mukesh remained calm as Rashid failed to clear the gate as GT fell short.
But Wednesday's match was all about Pant as he cleared all doubts about his chances at the World T20 Cup with a stunning innings. The flamboyant keeper-batsman was also brilliant behind the stumps, taking two crisp catches.
Earlier, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Prithvi Shaw got DC off to a flying start, racing to 34 in 3 overs.
Fraser-McGurk, who hit a blistering 18-ball 65 in their last match, looked at his ominous best as he elegantly pulled GT bowlers over the fence, but his stroke was cut short by Sandeep Warrier as the young Australian was run out on the square. leg of Noor Ahmed.
It was a double blow for DC in the fourth over when Shaw was caught by Noor off Warrier two balls later with a good diving effort at deep backward square leg as the batsman went for the maximum.
DC's problems were compounded when Warrier contributed his second scalp of the day in the form of Shai Hope, who was held by a diving Rashid on the cover boundary as DC slumped to 44 for 3 in the powerplay.
Trailing by three wickets, Pant and Axar initially played sensibly and tried to forge a partnership, but once they were settled, they unleashed their brutal attack.
Pant started slowly but grew more confident as time went on and unleashed his trademark pick-up shots from his legs, cuts and pulls to score his runs.
While Pant looked in full flow after getting his groove on, Axar played second fiddle but didn't hesitate to send the bad balls to the fence.
But Axar increased his pace as the innings progressed and scored his fifty off 37 balls with a boundary off Rashid in the last ball of the 15th over.
Pant attacked everything thrown at his legs as he effortlessly flicked Mohit Sharma for a six over midwicket in the 16th over. He then hit Mohit for long in the same over to prop up DC's run rate.
Axar matched his skipper stroke for stroke as he sent Noor to massive sixes in the 17th over.
But looking for one too many, Axar perished in the next ball, which was caught long on by Sai Kishore.
Pant brought up his fifty with a hit over the long fence off Mohit.
Tristan Stubbs' late seven-ball 26-run cameo and Pant's pyrotechnics towards the end took DC past the 200-run mark.
Pant wreaked havoc on Mohit in the last over, hitting the veteran bowler four sixes and one four to score 31 runs.
(With PTI inputs)
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