Ahmedabad: Mohammad Shami's terrific 4/11 bowling effort went in vain as Delhi Capitals pulled off a heist by defeating Gujarat Titans by 5 runs in a low-scoring IPL match at Narendra Modi Stadium here on Tuesday.
Pushed into deep hole, Delhi came out fighting when they were tottering at 23/5 batting first, and at the end they defended the paltry 130/8, thanks to some exhilarating bowling by veteran Ishan Sharma who bagged two wickets for 23, scalping Vijay Shankar (6) and the ominous Rahul Tewatia (20 off 7, 3x6s) at crucial point of the match.
Khaleel Ahmed also picked up two wickets of Wriddhiman Saha (0) and Abhinav Manohar (26 pff 33, 1x6) to put water into the dreams of Gujarat to make an easy claim, but it wasn't easy due to the slowness of the pitch. The batsmen were finding it difficult to get quick runs.
Delhi got the perfect start with a wicket maiden from Khaleel, and then Anrich Nortje dismissed Shubman Gill for six.
Shankar succumbed to Ishant's knuckle ball, and then David Miller was cleaned up by left arm leggie Kuldeep Yadav as he tried to play an unconventional shot for a duck.
Gujarat fought back through Hardik Pandya and Manohar in tight situations, but they swallowed too many balls. Axar Patel and Kuldeep kept things in check, but both batsmen could not connect despite their best efforts.
However, Tewatia gave an outside chance for the hosts after he pounded three consecutive sixes, but it wasn't enough for the team. But, Ishant. the forgotten man of Indian cricket, stayed calm to defend 12 off the last over and give Delhi a victory.
Earlier, Shami bowled an absolute dream spell. His top class swing bowling broke the backbone of Delhi in the powerplay.
It all started with Philip Salt's downfall for a golden duck. David Warner (2) was sold down the river by Priyam Garg (14), but the rest of the batsmen were all at sea against Shami's moving balls.
Delhi were reeling at 23/5, but Axar and Aman Hakim Khan (51) started the repair work, but played cautiously. They stitched 50 off 48 balls and then Axar fell to Mohit Sharma.
Aman kept going, and scored his maiden IPL fifty and Ripal Patel (23 off 12) also played a handy cameo down the order. (UNI)