The right-handed opening batsman Shubman Gill smacked a 46-ball 84 and New Zealand's star bowler Lockie Ferguson returned with 4-0-28-4 as Gujarat produced an all-round performance to beat Delhi by 14 runs in the Match No 10 of the ongoing Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 tournament on Saturday night.
At the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune — the only venue in this tournament which has been remained unaffected by the dew factor which has influenced several outcomes of matches so far — Gujarat won a fair contest by displaying remarkable doggedness through their performances both with the bat and the ball against a formidable and experienced Delhi side.
For Delhi, the left-arm Bangladeshi fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman claimed a three-wicket haul and captain Rishabh Pant fought hard with the bat but their efforts were just not enough.
Delhi won the toss and invited Gujarat to bat first and it looked like the decision was right when the Rishabh Pant-led team was able to make inroads into the Gujarat ranks.
Mustafizur Rahman struck early in the contest to dismiss Gujarat wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade for 1, following which Kuldeep Yadav cleaned up Vijay Shankar, who once again walked out at No 3.
Shankar faced 20 balls and scored 13 runs hitting three fours in the process and added 42 runs with 135 balls for the second wicket with Shubman Gill.
Gujarat were bolstered by a strong comeback via a sturdy partnership between Shubman Gill and captain Hardik Pandya, with the two batsmen adding 65 runs for the third wicket.
Pandya once again contributed handsomely in the middle-order, scoring 31 from 27 balls with 4 boundaries after his impressive performance with the bat against Lucknow in their first match of the tournament a few days ago.
The Gujarat captain was dismissed by India and Delhi left-arm fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed, who once again managed to produce an impressive bowling spell of 4-0-34-2.
The veteran South African batsman David Miller scored 20 not out from 15 balls whereas Rahul Tewatia clubbed one boundary and a six towards the end of the innings to make a quick 14 from 8 balls.
All this was after opening batsman Shubman Gill was dismissed close to his milestone of a triple-figure score. While Shubman Gill was made to wait for his maiden century in the tournament, he did record his personal best score.
The right-handed India and Gujarat opener batted brilliantly for his first half-century of the season, swatting 4 sixes and 6 boundaries in the process to make 84 from just 46 balls. His innings was yet another fine example of his batting prowess, which involves getting runs on all parts of the field without really exerting himself or taking unwanted risks.
Shubman Gill’s innings came to an end in the 18th over when Khaleel Ahmed surprised the batsman with a slower delivery which was short enough to be pulled. He failed to get enough power on the ball and he was caught at deep midwicket by India and Delhi all-rounder Axar Patel.
For Delhi, Mustafizur Rahman returned with 4-0-23-3 while Kuldeep Yadav took 1/32 from his 4 overs.
Delhi did not make the best of starts in the reply, losing the opening batsman Tim Seifert for just 3 on the first ball of the second over. Seifert was removed from the equation by Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya, who continued to prove his fitness and overall readiness to be considered for India selection once again, by coming on to bowl as early as in the second over.
Delhi failed to get any sort of momentum from the top order with opening batsman Prithvi Shaw making a 7-ball 10 before he was dismissed by Ferguson.
While the Kiwi bowler Lockie Ferguson was the leading wicket-taker for the Gujarat side on Saturday night, he along with Hardik Pandya must be praised for using the short ball extremely well against the vulnerable Delhi batsmen.
After the dashing Shaw fell on a stall short ball, it was the turn of No 3 batsman Mandeep Singh who perished having scored 18 from 16 balls with the help of 4 boundaries.
Delhi captain Rishabh Pant tried to weather the storm with a counter-attacking knock of 43, which came from 29 balls and 7 boundaries. However, the rest of the Delhi batsman cracked under pressure of the asking run rate which was increasing rapidly as none of them could last long enough to trouble the Gujarat side.
Lalit Yadav made a 22-ball 25 whereas Rovman Powell contributed with a12-ball 20 but Delhi batsmen could not prevent Gujarat from recording their second victory in the tournament in a comprehensive manner.
Apart from Ferguson, Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami took 2/30 whereas Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan both claimed 1 wicket each.
Following their second consecutive victory in the maiden season, Gujarat were sitting pretty at the 3rd spot in the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 points table with 4 points from 2 matches and a healthy natural rate of 0.495, whereas Delhi were placed at the 4th spot with 2 points in as many matches and a NRR of 0.065.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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