Titans thump Delhi by 10 wickets, qualify for playoffs

Mitchell Stark’s decision to miss the restart of the Indian Premier League was a big setback for Delhi Capitals. And it showed on Sunday as Delhi, playing at home, were thumped by Gujarat Titans by 10 wickets. Without the tall left-arm pacer, Axar Patel’s DC lacked teeth and looked like a team that downed its tools as Gujarat openers B Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill put together an unbeaten 205 runs to win the game with six balls to spare.

The win took Gujarat to the top of the IPL table with 18 points and confirmed a place in the playoffs. The chase of 200 looked tricky at the start and Gill and his partner started at a rapid scoring rate. They put on 33 runs in the first two overs bowled by Axar Patel and T Natarajan. Delhi put the reins on the scoring with Dushmantha Chameera and Mustafizur Rahman, who only conceded a solitary boundary in the three overs bowled between them.

But that was the only period when Delhi looked like they were in the game as both Gill and Sudharshan had the nous to find the boundaries to keep the scoring rate well within control.

Gill, who was batting cautiously with his partner finding the boundary on a regular basis, was only content in hitting sixes. His first boundary came in the 13th over when he hit Chameera to complete his half-century. By then he had already hit four sixes.

The only time the run rate went below nine was during overs 6-10, when they could only score 34 runs to get to the halfway stage of the chase with 93 runs. With no Delhi bowlers making an impression, both Gill and Sudharsan upped the rate to demoralise the home team.

Rahul’s century in vain

Earlier, a change in the opening batting combination worked for the home team as KL Rahul, who replaced Abhishek Porel at the top, batted through the entire innings to help Delhi score 199/3. Rahul top scored with an unbeaten 112 to set up a chase of 200.

Rahul started conservatively but upped the scoring rate in the last over of the mandatory powerplay bowled by Kagiso Rabada. A pull shot for a six was followed by a boundary over cover point and then he finished the over with a straight six over mid-off to get going. Porel, who came to bat after the fall of Faf du Plessis’ wicket, aided Rahul as the duo put together a partnership of 90 runs for the second wicket and set the foundations of the innings.