Rishabh Pant’s brilliant batting form and inspiring leadership resurrected Delhi Capitals will look to continue their upward match in the points table. They will face the inconsistent Mumbai Indians in New Delhi on April 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

They both hail from the same state. They are friends since their age-group days. Donning different shades of blue, they have stood with their craft with the ball in an IPL dominated by towering totals.

No wonder then that the economy rate of all-rounder Axar Patel and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah could well be decisive in the key clash between host Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

After the 41st league match, Bumrah (6.37 runs per over in 32 overs) tops the list of best economy rate for bowlers with at least 10 overs this season, Axar is placed third in the list (7.06 runs in 31 overs).

Against a batting line-up full of power-hitters, the Gujarat duo will be looking forward to repeat the heroics performed at the Wankhede Stadium done earlier in the month.

Considering that both the teams are still languishing in the bottom half of the points table, a loss on Saturday could well push them into a must-win position for the remaining phase.

While the Capitals — with veterans David Warner and Ishant Sharma being unavailable due to fitness issues — will hope to carry on the momentum from Wednesday night’s win, Hardik and Co. will be keen on switching gears with time running out.

Barring Bumrah, the remaining bowling unit has been a huge concern. With an on-song Rishabh and Axar on fire with the willow along with Jake Fraser-McGurk’s range-hitting, captain Hardik will be banking on his bowling group to deliver against the odds.

The teams

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (c), David Warner, Abishek Porel, Ricky Bhui, Yash Dhull, Shai Hope, Prithvi Shaw, Tristan Stubbs, Kumar Kushagra, Swastik Chikara, Ishant Sharma, Jhye Richardson, Rasikh Dar Salam, Vicky Ostwal, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Khaleel Ahmed, Sumit Kumar, Axar Patel, Gulbadin Naib, Lalit Yadav, Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Harvik Desai, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood.

Match starts 3.30pm IST.

Gujrat Titans will be striving for much needed consistency when they meet Delhi Capitals in an Indian Premier League match in Ahmedabad on April 17.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals will look to stabilise their undulating fortunes when they meet at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Wednesday.

Both sides snapped out of successive defeats with a victory in their previous encounter, but neither outfit has won back-to-back matches this season.

GT’s three-wicket triumph over the high-flying Rajasthan Royals was made possible by a stunning assault by its lower middle-order, comprising Rahul Tewatia, M. Shahrukh Khan and Rashid Khan, that helped chase down 196.

But it is the top- and middle-order combinations that have proved a headache. Injuries to David Miller (three games out), Wriddhiman Saha (two) and Azmatullah Omarzai (two) opened opportunities for Kane Williamson, Matthew Wade, B.R. Sharath, and Abhinav Manohar. No one hasso far lapped it up.

DC’s six-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants, that lifted the side out of last position, was fashioned by wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav and debutant Aussie batter Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Kuldeep, after missing three games because of a groin injury, made a sensational return (4-0-20-3) while Fraser-McGurk, in for the injured Mitchell Marsh, smashed a 35-ball 55 in a 168-run pursuit.

VersusLSG, DC also unleashed an all-Indian bowling attack and the former’s total (167) was the lowest in the four contestsDC has bowled first. Rishabh Pant’s consistent and brisk run-making, even as he juggles the twin burdens of captaincy and wicket-keeping, also augurs well.

DC will however be sweating over the fitness of David Warner. He was hit on the left hand against LSG, and though head coach Ricky Ponting said the scans were satisfactory, his availability will be known only on match-day.

The Teams (From):

Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Matthew Wade, Kane Williamson, Azmatullah Omarzai, Abhinav Manohar, Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Spencer Johnson, Kartik Tyagi, Joshua Little, Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmad, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohit Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Sushant Mishra, Sandeep Warrier, Sharath BR, Manav Suthar.

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (c), David Warner, Abishek Porel, Ricky Bhui, Yash Dhull, Shai Hope, Prithvi Shaw, Tristan Stubbs, Kumar Kushagra, Swastik Chikara, Ishant Sharma, Jhye Richardson, Rasikh Dar Salam, Vicky Ostwal, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Khaleel Ahmed, Sumit Kumar, Axar Patel, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Match starts 7.30pm IST.

File photo of Delhi Capitals’ spinner Kuldeep Yadav. He has been advised rest as precautionary measure for a groin niggle which he picked up during his team’s second game of the season against Rajasthan Royals.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav is nursing a groin niggle and has been advised rest as a precautionary measure by the Delhi Capitals team management in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

The 29-year-old left-arm spinner picked up the niggle after Delhi Capital’s second game of the season against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, which the team lost.

The player was forced to miss out on the next couple of contests where veteran pacer Ishant Sharma returned to the playing XI.

“It will take some time for him to be match fit,” an IPL source told PTI when asked about Kuldeep’s status.

Since he is a centrally-contracted player and a T20 World Cup hopeful, National Cricket Academy’s sports science and medical team will have a big say in Kuldeep’s injury and rehab management.

It is mandatory for franchises to report niggles and injury concerns of an India player to the NCA.

Although he has been travelling with the side for all the clashes, his participation in DC’s upcoming tie against Mumbai Indians on Sunday remains doubtful.

Kuldeep has picked up three wickets in two matches at an economy of 7.62.

He has been on a wicket-taking spree, coming off a great performance in the five-Test series against England that concluded last month, where he claimed 19 wickets in four meetings at an average of 20.15.

Delhi Capitals bowler Anrich Nortje celebrates with captain Rishabh Pant during the Indian Premier League 2024 match against Rajasthan Royals on March 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Delhi Capitals bowling coach James Hopes feels that the team’s under-fire pace spearhead Anrich Nortje will get better with time having recently made a comeback to competitive cricket after six months.

Nortje was taken to the cleaners by Rajasthan Royals’ Riyan Parag at the death as he went for 48 in his four overs on March 28.

Rajasthan Royals won the IPL match by 12 runs while defending 185 for 5.

Nortje had been out of cricket since September and came into IPL having played just three domestic T20 games earlier this month and failed to nail the yorkers or bowl the hard lengths that he is known for.

“I won’t say too much bad about the bowlers. They just tried to execute. It was a good first half with the ball but got away from us a little bit in the last five years,” Hopes said after his team’s 12-run loss to RR, where the complexion changed during the last part of their bowling innings.

“It’s the first time that Nortje has been at this level in a while. He had a fair time out of the game, but if you look at all the numbers, he is one of the premier death bowlers in the game. We trust that he is going to keep getting better,” Hopes, a former Australia medium pacer said defending the Proteas pacer.

Hopes also felt that just like bowling, the team’s batting also came apart in the back-10 after a positive start.

“With the bat, we started really well, we were in front of the game, and then fell away a little bit in the middle. They bowled 10 overs of death bowling pretty much at us, and executed it well.”

Hopes assessed that the end game is a problem in both departments after the first two defeats.

“We need to tidy at what we do at the end of the game. It’s one game, I don’t even count the first game because we had to take a bowler out to get an extra batter in and then Ishant (Sharma) went down, so I’m not going to judge us too harshly on one game.” The batting in the middle overs will largely depend on how comeback man Rishabh Pant fares.

“We need to tidy up our middle over batting too. We tend to get stuck a little bit in phases there. We know the fix for that is Rishabh Pant,” Hopes said.

“He has played two games after a long lay-off and I think you’re going to see some pretty special things from him in the next few weeks,” he concluded.

Delhi Capitals will take on Chennai Super Kings in their next game at the ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on March 31.

Rajasthan Royals batsman Riyan Parag plays a shot during the Indian Premier League 2024 match against Delhi Capitals in Jaipur on March 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Young Riyan Parag showed why he is considered a precocious talent as he struck a stunning 84 not out off 45 balls to set up a 12-run win for Rajasthan Royals against Delhi Capitals in their IPL match here on Thursday.

Sent in to bat, RR were reduced to 36 for 3 in the eighth over but the 22-year-old Parag single-handedly took the home side to 185 for 5 with a magnificent unbeaten knock studded with seven fours and six sixes.

Parag, who was promoted to number 4 by the team management this season and made 43 in the previous match, took 25 runs off veteran South African pacer Anrich Nortje with scores of 4, 4, 6, 4, 6, 1 in the final over to hit his highest T20 score.

Chasing 186 for a win, DC could only manage 173 for 5 in 20 overs though South African youngster Tristan Stubbs (44 not out off 23 balls) kept them in the hunt till the final over from which they needed 17 runs.

Avesh Khan conceded just four runs to help RR win their second consecutive match.

South African pacer Nandre Burger and Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets apiece to also contribute in the RR win.

“Definitely disappointed. The best thing to do from here is to learn from it. The bowlers did well through the 15-16 overs. But the batters did well at the death, hopefully we do better in the next game,” DC skipper Rishabh Pant said.

DC were reduced to 34 for 2 in the fourth over with Burger taking two wickets in three balls in a fine display of fast bowling.

Burger, who was brought in as Impact Sub for Shimron Hetmyer, dismissed opener Mitchell Marsh (23 off 12 balls) and Ricky Bhui (0) in the fourth over.

DC captain Rishabh Pant came out to bat at the fall of Bhui’s wicket and along with senior batter David Warner built the innings without taking too much risk. Delhi were 89 for 2 at the halfway stage.

Warner was the more aggressive one as he got the boundaries to keep DC in the hunt. The senior Australian batter fell one run short of his fifty courtesy a brilliant diving catch by Sandeep Sharma off the bowling of Avesh in the 12th over.

Warner and Pant were involved in a crucial 67-run partnership for the third wicket.

Playing in his 100th IPL match and 14 months after a horrible car crash, Pant tried to build the innings with occasional boundaries. But he got out for a 26-ball 28 as Chahal induced a faint lower edge for Sanju Samson to do the rest behind the stumps in the 14th over.

The asking rate shot up to more than 13 runs an over and DC needed 66 from the last five overs.

Stubbs kept DC in the game with two consecutive sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin in the 17th over, but in the end the Delhi side were short by 12 runs.

They needed 34 runs from the final two overs which they could not get. It was DC’s second consecutive loss.

Earlier, Parag shared 54 and 52 runs respectively with Ravichandran Ashwin (29) and Dhruv Jurel (20) after RR made a shaky start.

Royals captain Samson struck three consecutive boundaries in the fourth over bowled by pacer Mukesh Kumar before nicking a Khaleel Ahmed delivery two overs later to Pant to get out for 15.

RR were 30 for 2 by then as Mukesh had given DC their first breakthrough with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal (5).

The Royals were in more trouble after wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav literally forced his captain Pant to take a review, which later proved to be successful, to dismiss Englishman Jos Buttler for an LBW decision.

Ashwin came out to bat at number five and he lofted a Kuldeep delivery for a six to help RR reach 58 for 3 at halfway stage. He gave Nortje even a harsher treatment with two sixes in the next over that yielded 15 runs.

Ashwin, however, holed out to Tristan Stubbs near the boundary ropes for a 19-ball 29.

Parag then made his presence felt, striking two boundaries and a six off Ahmed to take RR past 100 in the 15th over.

Brief Scores:

Rajasthan Royals: 185 for 5 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 84 not out; Axar Patel 1/21).

Delhi Capitals: 173 for 5 in 20 overs (David Warner 49; Nandre Burger 2/29, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/19).