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DC Triumph RR, Bolsters Playoff Chances

The win sees DC jump to fifth place in the points table and are now tied with Lucknow Super Giants, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings at 12 points…reports Asian Lite News

Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar bowled superb spells as bowlers came to the fore as Delhi Capitals kept alive their hopes of reaching the Playoffs of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 with a 20-run win over Rajasthan Royals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Tuesday.

After Jake Fraser-McGurk and Abishek Porel slammed fifties in contrasting fashion, while Tristan Stubbs applied finishing touches with a 20-ball 41 to propel Delhi Capitals to 221/8, Kuldeep and Mukesh bowled decisive spells of 2-25 and 2-30 respectively to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 201/8.

The win sees DC jump to fifth place in the points table and are now tied with Lucknow Super Giants, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings at 12 points. It is also the second straight time that RR, despite a brilliant 86 from captain Sanju Samson, have failed to complete a chase and need to wait longer to seal their Playoff spot.

Khaleel Ahmed struck in his first over as he had Yashasvi Jaiswal miscuing a slower bouncer to mid-off. Sanju Samson upped the ante with sublime timing on his loft, drive, flat-batted smashes, punch, flick and piercing the gaps in cover with precision to hit five fours and three sixes in the power-play.

But RR lost Jos Buttler in the last over of the six-over phase, as he chopped onto his stumps off Axar Patel, meaning his catch being dropped by Tristan Stubbs didn’t become costly for DC. With Axar and Kuldeep operating in tandem, DC forced a slowdown by giving 25 runs in overs 7-10, though Riyan Parag got two sixes and a four.

That effort paid off as Parag was castled by a slower ball from Rasikh Salam which hit the top of off-stump. Samson went on to get his fifth IPL 2024 fifty in 28 balls by clearing his front leg and smacking Kuldeep over long-on for six off a free hit. Sitting deep in the crease, Samson hit Rasikh for six over long-on, followed by cutting and muscling him for four and six respectively.

With 91 runs needed off 42 balls, Samson just cleared cover off Ishant for four, before Shubham Dubey punched and muscled the pacer for four and six respectively to take 17 runs off the 14th over. Khaleel giving away four wides in an 11-run 15th over meant the equation for RR became 63 runs off 30 balls for the win.

Samson’s fine knock came to an end in dramatic circumstances when Shai Hope took a screamer of a catch at long-on, just millimetres away from the boundary rope off Mukesh. Though he walked up to the umpire in protest, it was in vain as Samson had to depart for 86.

From there, DC came back in the match as Shubham Dubey holed out to long-on off Khaleel. Kuldeep trapped Donovan Ferreira plumb lbw and had Ravichandran Ashwin holing out to long-on in his final over. Despite a slow-over rate penalty in the final over, where DC could field only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle, Mukesh castled Rovman Powell, which was enough to get DC a crucial win.

Brief scores:

Delhi Capitals 221/8 in 20 overs (Abishek Porel 65, Jake Fraser-McGurk 50; Ravichandran Ashwin 3-24) beat Rajasthan Royals 201/8 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 86; Kuldeep Yadav 2-25, Mukesh Kumar 2-30) by 20 runs

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KKR Openers Blitz Delhi Capitals

Initially unsold in IPL 2024, Phil Salt joined Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs. 1.5 crore after Jason Roy’s withdrawal. He marked his fourth half-century of the season on Monday…reports Asian Lite News

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) openers continued to dominate as Philt Salt hammered a 33-ball 68 in the opening partnership of 79 runs which propelled them to a seven-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in Match 47 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.

Phil Salt had gone unsold in the auction for IPL 2024 held in December 2023, but Kolkata Knight Riders got his services for a base price of Rs. 1.5 crore after his countryman Jason Roy opted out of the tournament citing “personal reasons”. Since then, the star wicket-keeper batter didn’t disappoint and hammered his fourth half-century of the season on Monday.

Salt and Sunil Narine ended the Power-play at 79 for no loss. Lizaad Williams’ first over went for 23, with Phil Salt doing the bulk of the damage before Narine whipped away a last-ball four.

More Salt was rubbed into Lizaad’s wounds when he dropped the English batter off the first ball of the second over. A miscue off Khaleel Ahmed went high in the air and Lizaard went under it at mid-on only to mess up the reverse-cup finish as the ball burst through his hands and smacked his chest.

The slower balls gripped the surface for Capitals’ fast bowlers, but they didn’t use it very well, offering both batters room to chance their arms on multiple occasions. Salt went past the half-century mark in 26 deliveries during an 18-run sixth over delivered by Khaleel Ahmed.

Of the first ball bowled by Axar Patel after the Power-play, Narine looked for the big hit with the turn and picked out deep midwicket on 15 runs. Axar, in the very next over, knocked out Salt’s off-stump on 68 as a new pair of batters, Shreyas Iyer and Rinku Singh came in the middle. Rinku Singh, who got the chance to show his mettle in the chase, got out on run-up ball 11. Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer continued ticking the board as they both added 57 runs for the fourth wicket, which was enough to beat the visitors by seven wickets.

Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav’s brilliant knock of 35 runs propelled Delhi Capitals to 153/9 after Varun Chakravarthy bowled a brilliant spell of 3-16 for KKR.

This Eden pitch hasn’t been like the pitches of earlier in the season. It felt like KKR asked for something with a bit more help in it for the spinners after losing that sixer-fest against the Punjab Kings. And the pitch has really suited their two mystery spinners.

DC skipper Rishabh Pant and Abhishek Porel added 31 runs for the fourth wicket after an early setback but after their partnership ended, wickets kept falling from the other side. Porel (18), Axar Patel (15), Tristan Stubbs (4) and Kumar Kushagra (1) got out cheaply as DC from 67/3 in nine overs, were reduced to 101/6 in 13 overs. Pant, after an entertaining knock of 27 off 20 deliveries, fell prey to Chakravarthy, trying to slog-sweep towards deep midwicket and edged it straight up in the air.

Kuldeep Yadav’s brilliant 35 off 29 deliveries, studded with five boundaries and a six, propelled Delhi Capitals to 153/9 in 20 overs. Yadav was brought late into the attack in the bowling and ended his spell with 34 for none. Surely, not a day with the ball for Yadav, as Venkatesh Iyer finished off things with a six as KKR, solidified their position in the second position with a sixth win.

Brief score:

Delhi Capitals 153/9 in 20 overs (Kuldeep Yadav 35 not out, Rishabh Pant 27; Varun Chakravarthy 3-16, Harshit Rana 2-28) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 157/3 in 16.3 overs (Phil Salt 68, Shreyas Iyer 33; Axar Patel 2-25; Lizaad Williams 1-38) by seven wickets

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DC Edge Out GT in High-Octane Thriller

GT had the upper hand after electing to bowl first, thanks to Sandeep Warrier’s triple strikes in power-play and leave DC in trouble…reports Asian Lite News

Captain Rishabh Pant enthralled the home crowd by slamming an unbeaten 88 off 43 balls, while Axar Patel hit a 43-ball 66 and impact player Rasikh Salam picked a three-fer as Delhi Capitals edged Gujarat Titans by four runs in a thrilling run-fest to secure their fourth win of the tournament at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday.

After Pant and Axar fifties, along with Tristan Stubbs’ unbeaten 26 lift DC to a mammoth 224/4, GT were quick in their run-scoring, thanks to 65 from B Sai Sudarshan, followed by 55 from David Miller. But DC triumphed in the end to get those crucial two points in a proper run-fest.

GT had the upper hand after electing to bowl first, thanks to Sandeep Warrier’s triple strikes in power-play and leave DC in trouble. But Pant and Axar took their time, before launching a stunning onslaught against spinners to form a decisive 113-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Axar made his promotion to number three count by hitting five fours and four sixes in his eye-catchy knock at a strike-rate of 153.49. Pant, after being scratchy in his 44 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, was at his magnificent best in hitting eight sixes and five fours at a strike-rate of 204.6.

The duo being phenomenal with the bat meant GT spinners were rendered ineffective in middle overs and the visitors’ bowlers were promptly taken for cleaners in the death overs. Moreover, Warrier didn’t bowl out his final over, as DC took 97 runs in their final five overs.

Prithvi Shaw and Jake Fraser-McGurk hit six delightful boundaries as DC reached 34/0 in three overs. But Warrier bounced back in the fourth over after conceding 12 runs in his opening over.

The fast-bowler first had Fraser-McGurk flicking off the bottom edge to deep square leg, followed by getting Shaw to mistime a pull, with Noor Ahmad running in from deep square leg to take a diving catch. Warrier got his third power-play wicket when Shai Hope sliced away from his body and was caught at backward point, as DC ended the six-over phase with 44/3.

Axar got a move on by crashing a drive off Omarzai, before nailing a slog-sweep for six on a Rashid Khan googly. He and Pant took a pulled four each off Rashid’s short balls, followed by the latter slog-sweeping Noor Ahmad for a four and six each.

Axar continued to thrive against spinners – driving and cutting with ease for his boundaries, while Pant feasted on Mohit Sharma’s short balls by pulling and slicing to take a brace of fours. Axar lofted a drive off Shahrukh Khan for six, before reaching his fifty in 37 balls with a pulled four off Rashid.

Pant was delightful in the 16th over against Mohit – whipping off his pads and thumping a slower ball over long-off for a brace of sixes, before bringing up the century of the fourth-wicket stand. Axar then hammered Noor for back-to-back sixes in the 17th over before holing out to long-on to fall for a 43-ball 66.

Pant got his fifty in 34 balls by lofting a full-toss from Mohit over long-on for six, and was met with a grand applause from the crowd. GT brought in R Sai Kishore’s left-arm spin in the 19th over to counter right-handed Tristan Stubbs.

But the batter creamed the drives twice in the gap between extra-cover and long-off, followed by clubbing the spinner for two mammoth sixes over long-on in the 22-run over. In the last over, Pant managed to clear long-on for six and sliced a four despite losing balance against Mohit. He cut loose with his pull, loft and swivel fetching him maximums on last three balls of the innings to take 31 runs off the final over.

In chasing 225, Shubman Gill fell early in his 100th IPL game after mistiming the loft to mid-on off Anrich Nortje. Wriddhiman Saha and Sudharsan hit ten boundaries between themselves in the remainder of power-play, including taking 17 runs off Khaleel Ahmed in the third over.

Sudarshan had some luck on his side, after being dropped on 17 by Axar at mid-on on Rasikh’s bowling, as GT ended power-play at 67/1. Sudarshan was neat in cutting and glancing Axar for consecutive fours. But Kuldeep Yadav struck as Saha slashed hard and Axar jumped in the nick of time to pluck the catch out of thin air.

Sudarshan completed his fifty in 29 balls, but saw GT go from 94/1 to 98/3 as Axar had Omarzai caught by Fraser-McGurk rushing in and diving forward from deep mid-wicket to complete a sensational catch. Sudarshan and Miller would hit a boundary each, before the former holed out to long-off against Rasikh.

Rasikh then took out Shahrukh Khan, as Pant took a sharp catch after standing up to the stumps, followed by him taking Rahul Tewatia’s catch on Kuldeep’s last ball. With 73 runs needed off 24 balls, Miller feasted on Nortje’s short and full balls by hitting a four and three sixes before reaching his fifty in 21 balls with a brace as 24 runs came off the 17th over.

After Rashid was dropped by Abishek Porel on first ball of the 18th over, Miller glanced Mukesh for four, before clipping straight to deep backward square leg and fall for a 23-ball 55. With 37 runs needed off 12 balls, Rashid worked Rasikh for a boundary and Stubbs even saved a six of him, followed by Kishore keeping match alive with consecutive sixes, before being castled by the pacer.

The equation came down to 19 runs in the final over, and Rashid began by whipping Mukesh for a four in the gap between long-on and mid-wicket. When the pacer pitched it wide, Rashid was quick to slash over extra cover for a boundary.

After two dot balls, Rashid lofted a six over long-off. With three runs needed off the last ball, Rashid hit off a yorker, but the ball went one bounce to long-off, as DC held their nerve to get a tight win.

Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 224/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 88 not out; Axar Patel 66; Sandeep Warrier 3-15) beat Gujarat Titans 220/8 in 20 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 65, David Miller 55; Rasikh Salam 3-44, Kuldeep Yadav 2-29) by four runs

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Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Blistering Batting Seals 67-Run Victory Over Delhi Capitals

Head pulled Lalit Yadav for back-to-back backfoot sixes, before cutting hard and being helped by a misfield from Anrich Nortje to get a four, with Abhishek lofting inside-out for another boundary as 21 runs came off the second over…reports Asian Lite News

Sunrisers Hyderabad continued to set lofty standards of ultra-attacking batting in IPL 2024 as Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma brought an out-of-the-world hurricane of dazzling stroke-play to set the base for a 67-run win over Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.

On a placid pitch, Head (82 off 39 balls) and Abhishek (46 off 12 balls) left everyone in the stands breathless and speechless with their flurry of impeccable strokeplay and establishing multiple records for fun to help SRH make 125-0 in power-play, thus setting a new record for the highest power-play score in T20 cricket, including in the IPL.

After being hammered in power-play, Kuldeep Yadav (4-55) and Axar Patel (1-29) helped DC come back in the match as SRH went from 131/0 to 151/4. Handy contributions from Shabhaz Ahmed (59 not out off 29 balls) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (37 off 27 balls) ensured SRH posted a massive total yet again, while hitting 22 sixes and equalling their own record of most sixes hit in an IPL match.

In reply, Natarajan fired his yorkers well to pick a brilliant 4-19 as DC were bowled out for 199, with SRH now jumping to second place in points table. Their lone bright spot was young Jake Fraser-McGurk hitting fastest fifty of the season in 15 balls. Pushed into batting first, Head’s onslaught began by smashing a six and two fours on Khaleel Ahmed’s short balls, before Abhishek clipped one for another boundary in a 19-run opening over.

Head pulled Lalit Yadav for back-to-back backfoot sixes, before cutting hard and being helped by a misfield from Anrich Nortje to get a four, with Abhishek lofting inside-out for another boundary as 21 runs came off the second over.

Nortje was next to come in firing line, as Head hit him cleanly for four boundaries, before getting his fifty in just 16 balls, by whipping over deep mid-wicket for six, as 22 runs came off third over. It was also the third time Head reached half-century in power-play of IPL 2024, also the joint-fastest fifty by an SRH batter in IPL.

Abhishek pulled and smacked Lalit for two sixes, before Head slapped him down the ground for third six of the fourth over. Abhishek greeted Kuldeep with loft and pull to hit a brace of sixes, before ending the over by dancing down the pitch to hit another maximum, as SRH crossed 100 in just five overs, also the fastest century by a team in T20s.

Head smacked Mukesh Kumar four straight boundaries, before ending the powerplay with a loft over long-off for six as SRH made 125/0, setting new record for highest-ever score in power-play of T20s. The carnage seemed to have no stopping once Abhishek lofted Kuldeep on the first ball post power-play.

But after that, the script flipped in favour of DC. Abhishek went for a drive off Kuldeep, but couldn’t keep it down and Axar made a dive at extra cover to take a sharp catch. One brought two for Kuldeep as Aiden Markram hit straight to Axar again.

Despite Klaasen smacking him for two sixes down the ground and over long-on, Kuldeep bounced back by having Head, who didn’t get much strike after power-play, heave to a running long-on, and dismiss him for 89 off 32 balls. Axar further pulled DC back in the match by castling Klaasen.

Nitish dazzled with a picture-perfect cover-drive off Khaleel and collectively hit four more pleasing boundaries with Shahbaz as SRH crossed 200 in 14.5 overs. Reddy would again dazzle with a reverse-scoop off Kuldeep for six, before holing out to long-on, giving the spinner incredible figures of 4-55.

Shahbaz swung cleanly to hit Khaleel for back-to-back sixes, while Samad also took a maximum off him as 20 runs came off the 19th over for SRH to raise their 250 for the third time in this season. Shahbaz then hit a four and six on last two balls of the innings to get his maiden IPL fifty, as SRH’s batting carnage finally ended.

Impact player Prithvi Shaw began DC’s chase by smashing Washington Sundar for four boundaries on first four balls. But Sundar had the last laugh as Shaw miscued a loft to cover. David Warner didn’t do much as a leading edge off Bhuvneshwar Kumar was caught by a diving Pat Cummins at mid-off.

Fraser-McGurk brought out his clean bat swing by whacking Sundar for three sixes and as many fours in the third over to collect 30 runs. With Abishek Porel hitting three boundaries from the other end, Fraser-McGurk backed away to drill Pat Cummins for four and then got down on one knee to hit a lofted drive over mid-on for six as 20 runs came off the fifth over.

After amassing 88/2 in power-play, Fraser-McGurk smashed a 15-ball fifty, also the fastest half-century by a DC batter in IPL, by launching a six over long-on off Mayank Markande. He would smoke two more sixes over long-off before miscuing a slog to point and fall for 18-ball 65, with the crowd giving him a standing ovation.

Porel launched a stunning assault against Shahbaz Ahmed, picking the lengths well to hit three fours and a six as 22 runs came off the eighth over. But Porel missed a wide delivery from Markande and was stumped for 22-ball 42.

Rishabh Pant got a rousing reception from his home crowd and he didn’t disappoint them by producing two dazzling flicks fetching him boundaries off Bhuvneshwar. But he struggled to find fluency big time, especially being beaten on pace by Cummins, which meant DC crumbled under pressure.

Tristan Stubbs succumbed to it by pulling to mid-wicket off Nitish Reddy, followed by Lalit’s leg-stump being sent on a cartwheel ride by Natarajan, who took out Axar, Nortje and Kuldeep in the 19th over. Though Pant collected four more boundaries, it was too late for DC to prevent themselves from slumping to their fifth defeat of the competition.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 266/7 in 20 overs (Travis Head 89, Shahbaz Ahmed 59 not out; Kuldeep Yadav 4-55, Axar Patel 1-29) beat Delhi Capitals 199 in 19.1 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 65, Rishabh Pant 44; T Natarajan 4-19, Nitish Reddy 2-19) by 67 runs

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DC Rolls Over GT, Secures Win with Ease

The big victory at Ahmedabad sees DC jump from ninth to sixth place in points table and leapfrog GT in the process…reports Asian Lite News

Ishant Sharma took two crucial scalps in power-play while Mukesh Kumar shined with 3-14 to lead an impressive bowling show for Delhi Capitals to bowl out Gujarat Titans’ for just 89 and set up their six-wicket win at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday.

On a black-soil pitch which was used for the first time in this season, the ball kept low, came slow on the batters and gripped a bit for spinners. All of this was ideal for DC bowlers to bowl economical spells and keep GT on a very tight leash. Barring Kuldeep Yadav, all bowlers were amongst the wickets, with Mukesh clinching his best-ever bowling figures in the IPL.

DC were also very sharp in their fielding, with captain Rishabh Pant, who giggled at the toss before electing to bowl first, using his bowlers very well and taking two catches plus as many effective stumpings in quick fashion. In reply, cameos from Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel and Shai Hope made short work of the chase to wrap it up in 8.5 overs.

The big victory at Ahmedabad sees DC jump from ninth to sixth place in points table and leapfrog GT in the process. GT being bundled out for 89 is now their lowest ever total since entering the IPL fold in 2022. Their previous lowest total in the IPL was 125, which co-incidentally also came against DC in Ahmedabad last year.

Ishant landed the first blow by getting Shubman Gill, who hit two crisp fours earlier, to drive straight to cover. Wriddhiman Saha tried to hoick across the line against Mukesh, but chopped on to uproot his middle-stump.

GT plunged into more trouble as Sai Sudharsan, who punched and creamed the drive off Khaleel Ahmed for back-to-back boundaries, was run-out by a brilliant direct hit from Sumit Kumar running in from short mid-wicket at the non-striker’s end despite making a desperate dive.

In the same over, David Miller got a slight inside-edge off Ishant and Pant dived full stretch to his left for taking a low catch, followed by getting the decision changed successfully on review. A maiden over from Khaleel followed as GT ended the power-play at 30/4.

It became 47/5 soon as Abhinav Manohar tried to push at an outside off-stump delivery from Tristan Stubbs and Pant, with a child-like smile, was quick to dislodge the bails for completing the stumping.

A ball later, impact player Shahrukh Khan stepped down the pitch to pull off Stubbs, but missed it and Pant, despite not gathering it cleanly, completed the stumping as the ball bounced off his gloves to hit the stumps.

Rahul Tewatia went for the slog-sweep against Axar Patel, but the ball turned in to trap the batter lbw. With umpire’s call showing the ball clipping side of leg-stump, Tewatia had to depart as GT continued to slide.

Mohit Sharma tried to break free, but holed out in the deep off Khaleel. Rashid Khan, who hit a four before the half-way mark, hit the first six of the innings by launching Kuldeep over extra cover for six. But in a bid to slash a short ball from Mukesh, Rashid gave a faint outside edge behind to Pant. A ball later, Mukesh castled Noor Ahmad to end GT’s innings in 17.3 overs.

Chasing a paltry 90, Fraser-McGurk got going from the word go by lofting Sandeep Warrier for six and four, before slashing twice off Spencer Johnson for the same result. His short yet cracking knock ended at 20 off 10 balls after flicking to mid-wicket off Johnson.

Warrier got his first scalp in the third over with a well-directed bouncer which Prithvi Shaw ballooned to short third man. Porel was delightful in punching, and pulling for a four and two sixes before being castled by Warrier.

Hope nailed his flicks, and flat-bat shots to pick three quick boundaries, before reverse-sweeping to backward point off Rashid. Pant continued his impressive time by flat-batting a drive off Noor Ahmed for four, before dancing down the pitch to clear long-off for six.

Sumit thumped Noor for a brace of fours, second of which came off a bottom-edge, which also turned out to be the winning runs for DC to complete the chase in 53 legal deliveries and see their net run-rate rise from -0.975 to -0.074.

Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans 89 in 17.3 overs (Rashid Khan 31; Mukesh Kumar 3-14, Ishant Sharma 2-8) lost to Delhi Capitals 92/4 in 8.5 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 20; Sandeep Warrier 2-40) by six wickets

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Warner, Shaw Fireworks Propel Delhi Capitals to 191 against CSK

Shaw, who had started a bit slowly dealing in singles against Chahar and Tushar Deshpande…reports Asian Lite News

Veteran opener David Warner and skipper Rishabh Pant hammered quick-fire half-centuries and Prithvi Shaw blazed to a 27-ball 43 as Delhi Capitals managed to post 191/5 in 20 overs in Match 13 of the Indian Premier League at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.

Warner raced to his half-century in 32 balls while Rishabh Pant did one better as he scored his first half-century of IPL 2024 in 31 balls as Delhi Capitals after a slow start, exploded into action. Prithvi Shaw slammed a hat-trick of boundaries off Mustafizur Rahman as he and Warner raised 93 runs for the opening wicket.

After they chose to bat first, Warner and Shaw scored 24 runs from the first four overs and then 51 from the next three as they gave DC their best start of the season. With Pant looking to capitalse on the foundation after both got out in quick succession, DC looked set to go past the 200-run mark.

However, Sri Lankan Matheesha Pathirana’s three-fer applied the brakes as the bowler with a Malinga-like slinging action yorked Mitchell Marsh and Tristian Stubbs in one superb over in which he touched 150.04 on the speed gun, hampered their progress.

Warner and Prithvi Shaw gave Delhi Capitals a brilliant start, their best of this IPL as they blazed to 62 runs in the Power-play they raised a 93-run partnership for the opening wicket on a pitch that looked good for batting.

Warner (52, 35bs, 5×4, 2×6) and Shaw (43, 27b, 4×4, 2×6) were opening for the first time this season with DC deciding to demote Mitchell Marsh from the opening slot and push him down into the middle-order. The move paid off as Warner and Shaw went after the bowling.

Warner ended the opening over by Deepak Chahar with a four, driving them through covers. An over later, he struck DC’s first six of the innings by planting into the stands a slightly slower delivery by Chahar. Warner went berserk in Chahar’s next over, hitting him for a six, flicked off the pads, and two boundaries to take 17 runs off the over.

Warner hammered Ravindra Jadeja for a four and six as he blazed to a half-century off 32 balls, hammering five boundaries and three sixes. The Aussie opener was dropped by Mustafizur Rahman off his own bowling as it fizzed past him but the Bangladesh pacer had the last laugh as he got the breakthrough for CSK. However, it was more of a Matheesha Pathirana wicket as he brilliantly caught a reverse scoop by Warner, jumping into air and pouching a one-handed catch.

Shaw, who had started a bit slowly dealing in singles against Chahar and Tushar Deshpande. He opened up in the fourth over, dispatching a fuller delivery outside off by his Mumbai teammate Tushar Deshpande past the vacant point region for a one-bounce four.

Shaw was at his best against Mustafizur Rahman in the sixth over, hitting the Bangladesh pacer for a hat-trick of boundaries, flicking one off his pads, using his wrists against a slower one, and then and a superb punch through covers for the third. He slog-swept Jadeja for a six and in the seventh over and then repeated the shot for a slightly more fuller delivery around off for his second six. But Jadeja had his revenge off the next delivery as he extracted an outside edge and Dhoni made no mistake.

Rishabh Pant and Mitchell Marsh took over the scoring but Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana bowled a brilliant over to claim two wickets and applied the brakes on the DC scoring rate. He unleashed two superb yorkers, the second one touching 150kph on the speed gun as he uprooted the middle stump to account for Marsh (18) and Tristan Stubbs (0).

DC were left shell-shocked for a few overs before Pant went after Pathirana, hammering him for six and two boundaries. An attempted yorker from the Sri Lankan Malinga look-alike in action was launched over long-on. The next ball was sent to the long-on boundary and the next delivery sliced over the point region for a boundary as Pant completed his half-century in 31 balls.

He was out on the next ball, trying to hit a shot too many as Pant tried to hit Pathirana out of the ground but sliced and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad caught a skier as DC eventually managed to reach 191/5.

Brief scores:

Delhi Capitals 191/5 in 20 overs (David Warner 52, Rishabh Pant 51, Prithvi Shaw 43; Matheesha Pathirana 3-31) against Chennai Super Kings.

ALSO READ-DC to Clash with CSK in IPL 2024 Showdown

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DC to Clash with CSK in IPL 2024 Showdown

New Delhi : DC's Axar Patel plays a shot during the IPL 2023 match between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings at Arun Jaitley Stadium, in New Delhi, on Saturday, May 20, 2023. (Photo:Biplab Banerjee/IANS)

The two teams faced each other 29 times in the tournament with five-time champion CSK having the upper hand on DC….reports Asian Lite News

Delhi Capitals (DC) will take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Match 13 of the IPL 2024 on Sunday.

The two teams faced each other 29 times in the tournament with five-time champion CSK having the upper hand on DC.

DC v CSK Head-to-Head 29:

Delhi Capitals – 10

Chennai Super Kings – 19

DC v CSK Match time: The Match starts at 7:30 PM IST (2:00 PM GMT) with toss taking place half an hour prior to the match i.e., 7:00 PM (1:30 PM GMT)

DC v CSK match venue: Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam

Live broadcast of DC v CSK match on television in India: DC v CSK match will be broadcast live via Star Sports Network.

Live stream in India: The live streaming of DC v CSK will be available on JioCinema.

Weather conditions:

The excessive heat and humidity in Visakhapatnam might challenge players.

Squads:

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

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni(w), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Maheesh Theekshana, Moeen Ali, Devon Conway, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Aravelly Avanish

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Chennai thrash Delhi by 27 runs

CSK bowlers maintained the stranglehold on the Capital batters to restrict them to 140/8 and notched their seventh win of the tournament…reports Asian Lite News

Skipper MS Dhoni’s late cameo (20 off 9) followed by a clinical show from the bowlers lead Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a comfortable 27-run win over Delhi Capitals (DC) in an IPL 2023 game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, here on Wednesday.

Delhi spinners were at their best as they kept the CSK batters at bay with six batters crossing 20 and the highest individual score was 25. But Dhoni’s crucial cameo ensured CSK finished with a fighting total of 167/8 in 20 overs.

In reply, Delhi got off to a dismal start as they lost their openers in the Powerplay. Then, Riley Rossouw and Pandey steadied the ship and built a 59-run stand. But CSK bowlers maintained the stranglehold on the Capital batters to restrict them to 140/8 and notched their seventh win of the tournament.

Chasing 170, Delhi Capitals suffered early blows as Deepak Chahar struck in the very first over to remove skipper David Warner for a second ball duck. Phil Salt flicked away to the deep backward square for a boundary and stepped down and played a pull shot for a six in the second over to pump up the start.

He continued with his hit as he hammered Chahar for a six but the pacer was quick to bounce on the next delivery and removed the Salt for 17. DC lost both the openers within three overs.

The next over Mitchell Marsh and Manish Pandey got a huge mix up between the wickets while looking for a single. Ajinkya Rahane smartly ran to the bowler’s end and flicked the bails off and March got run out. DC were reeling 27-3 in four overs.

Riley Rossouw and Pandey took a couple of boundaries and maximum to take the Powerplay score to 47-3.

CSK bowlers were building pressure with their clinical bowling with just two big hits coming in the next four overs. The duo of Rossouw and Pandey steadied the innings as they kept rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard reeling.

The duo built a 59-run stand, which Matheesha Pathirana broke by dismissing Pandey for 27. The latter greeted Pathirana with a six in the 13th over but the pacer had a quick comeback as he got the former for lbw on the last ball of the over.

An over later, Jadeja came into the attack and got the set batter Rossouw, who sat on a knee to go for a slog sweep but ended up mis-hitting to long-on where Pathirana took a safe catch.

With the asking run-rate going over 18 runs per over, Axar Patel went for few big hits to release some pressure but was removed in the 18th over as Pathirana deceived him with a slower delivery.

When 48 was needed in 12 balls, Tushar Deshpande bowled a brilliant 19th over, conceding just five runs. Also, DC lost Ripal Patel through runout and the chase almost came to an end as the visitors needed 43 off the 6 balls to win.

Lalit Yadav hammered Pathirana for three boundaries in the final over and pacer cleaned up Yadav on the penultimate delivery as CSK wrapped up a 27-run win.

Earlier, batting first, CSK lost the in-form opener Devon Conway early in the Powerplay. It was Axar Patel who got the big fish for lbw. Then, Ajinkya Rahane and Ruturaj Gaikwad took the Powerplay score to 49/1.

Axar delivered another blow to CSK as he got rid of Gaikwad in the next over. Kuldeep Yadav struck in the 10th over to dismiss Moeen Ali and CSK were reduced to 66-3 halfway through the innings.

Soon, Lalit Yadav caught & bowled Rahane to pile up further miseries on CSK. Then, Dube and Ambati Rayudu hit the foot on paddle to turn the momentum, collecting 23 runs off the 13th over and CSK crossed the 100-run mark.

Mitchell Marsh removed dangerous looking Debe on a slower delivery and half of the Chennai side was back to the pavilion. Couple of overs later, Khaleel Ahmed removed Rayudu and CSK stumbled further.

Then the Chepauk crowd went mad and welcomed Dhoni to the crease with a loud cheer. In the penultimate over of the innings bowled by Khaleel, Dhoni smashed two sixes and a boundary, taking 21 off the over and CSK reached 160-6.

Jadeja began the last over well with a boundary, the next ball he miscued his shot and handed an easy catch to the long-on fielder, ending a crucial 38-run partnership. Two balls later, Marsh put an end to Dhoni’s fine cameo as CSK eventually posted 167/8 in 20 overs.

Brief score: Chennai Super Kings 167/8 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 25 off 12, MS Dhoni 20 off 9; Mitchell Marsh 3/18, Axar Patel 2/27) beat Delhi Capitals 140/8 in 20 overs (Rilee Rossouw 35 off 37, Manish Pandey 27 off 29; Matheesha Pathirana 3/37, Deepak Chahar 2/28) by 27 runs.

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Delhi Capitals beat Gujarat Titans by five runs

Despite the win, Delhi Capitals stayed at the bottom of the points table but they have kept themselves alive in the tournament with three victories in nine matches…reports Asian Lite News

Delhi Capitals overcame Hardik Pandya’s fighting unbeaten fifty (59 not out) and Mohammed Shami’s four-fer (4-11) to beat Gujarat Titans by five runs in Match No. 44 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Narendra Modi Stadium, here on Tuesday.

Despite the win, Delhi Capitals stayed at the bottom of the points table but they have kept themselves alive in the tournament with three victories in nine matches. On the other hand, Gujarat Titans, who have six wins in nine matches, are at the top of the points table despite the loss.

Seasoned pacer Shami’s sensational four-fer helped Gujarat Titans restrict Delhi Capitals to 130/8 in 20 overs despite a fighting fifty from Aman Hakim Khan (51 off 44). Apart from Shami, Mohit Sharma (2-33) and Rashid Khan (1-28) were the other wicket-takers for Titans while Axar Patel (27 off 30) and Ripal Patel (23 off 13) were the other main contributors with the bat after Aman.

Chasing a low total, Delhi Capitals also had a poor start as they lost three wickets inside the Power-play and scored just 31 runs. It was Khaleel Ahmed, who drew the first blood for Delhi Capitals by getting Wriddhiman Saha caught behind for a duck in the last delivery of the very first over of the innings.

Skipper Hardik Pandya walked into the middle to give company to Shubman Gill, who started well by hitting a boundary off Ishant Sharma. However, Anrich Nortje was introduced in the attack soon and he dismissed Gill, who timed the ball straight to the cover fielder.

Vijay Shankar has been in good form this season and Gujarat had high hopes for him but Ishant bowled a brilliant knuckleball to get rid of the Tamil Nadu batter, leaving Titans in a precarious position at 26-3 after 4.6 overs.

Defending champions Gujarat needed a partnership to rebuild their innings but new man David Miller tried to play a cute paddle sweep off Kuldeep Yadav but was bowled, adding misery to his team’s position.

Gujarat Titans were 32/4 when Miller got out and Hardik was watching his batting partners going back to the pavilion one after another. The skipper needed some support and it came from Abhinav Manohar.

The duo of Hardik and Abhinav played cautiously against spin twins Kuldeep and Axar Patel, who were bowling nicely to keep things in control for Delhi. After bowling a few overs of spin, Warner went back to his pacers and they also bowled well, giving few boundaries here and there as the required run rate was going up with each passing over.

Hardik and Abhinav continued to grind out runs while Warner was bringing in the bowling changes in search of breakthroughs and not letting the batters settle down as Gujarat Titans were 71/4 after 14 overs.

With the required run rate increasingly sharp, Hardik decided to free his arms and got a few boundaries to get his fifty in 44 balls but Abhinav was not able to find boundaries and his struggle was ended by Khaleel Ahmed in the first ball of the 18th over.

Khaleel executed his slower ones and yorkers to perfection and gave just four runs in his over, making things tougher for Gujarat.

Anrich Nortje came to bowl the 19th over with Gujarat needing 33 runs in 12 balls. The pacer conceded just 3 runs in the first three balls but Tewatia had other plans and he hit Nortje for three consecutive sixes, to bring the equation in Gujarat’s favour.

With 12 runs needed off 6 balls for Gujarat to win, experienced Ishant had the big task in hand but he held his nerves well. The pacer gave just three runs in the first three balls with Hardik facing two of them and then removed the dangerous Tewatia in the fourth ball to keep Delhi Capitals in the game.

Rashid Khan scored just 2 runs in the fifth delivery and Ishant finished it well to give one run in the last ball to restrict Gujarat to 125/6 in 20 overs and win it for Delhi.

Earlier, Delhi Capitals won the toss and opted to bat first and were off to a horrific start, losing five wickets inside the Power-play. The horror show started in the very first ball of the innings when Phil Salt toe-ended a swinging delivery bowled by Shami to cover, where David Miller took a simple catch.

Thereafter, confusion between Priyam Garg and David Warner resulted in the Delhi Capitals’ skipper getting run out with Rashid Khan dislodging the bails at the non-striker’s end, on a no-ball. Rilee Rossow, who came into the playing XI for Mitchell Marsh, also couldn’t do much as a classic swing delivery from Shami dismissed the South African batter.

Continuing his sensational show, Shami bowled another beauty to Manish Pandey to remove him with Saha taking a stunning catch behind the wicket. In the last delivery of the same over, the duo once again combined to dismiss Priyam Garg, who failed to negotiate the slightly late movement, leaving Delhi Capitals struggling at 23-5 at the end of 5 overs.

Shami, who was extracting the juice available in the pitch due to wet weather around, had the chance of getting the fifer but Axar Patel and Aman Hakim Khan, negotiated his last over well. However, Shami, who bowled all his four overs on the trot, single-handedly had Delhi on the mat by the end of the seventh over.

From there on, Axar and Aman rebuilt the Delhi innings as they rotated the strike nicely and got the odd boundary and six against the Gujarat bowlers. The pair added a sedate fifty-run stand for the sixth wicket but Mohit Sharma was once again incisive in the middle overs and ended that partnership, by taking the huge wicket of Axar.

Delhi were 73-6 after 14 overs when Axar got out and they needed something miraculous from their lower-order batter to post a competitive total. The likes of Aman Khan and Ripal Patel showed some intent and hit Mohit Sharma and Josh Little for a few timely boundaries and sixes, giving some impetus to the Capitals’ innings.

Aman smashed Mohit for a six to complete his half-century in 41 balls as Delhi looked to get the desired finish. In the penultimate over of the innings, Ripal welcomed Rashid Khan with a six but the leg-spinner removed Aman Khan later in the over with Abhinav Manohar taking a good catch at the deep.

Mohit Sharma dismissed Ripal Patel to get his 100th IPL wicket and bowled an excellent last over to keep Delhi Capitals to 130-8 in 20 overs, which was enough in the end.

Brief scores:

Delhi Capitals 130/8 in 20 overs (Aman Hakim Khan 51, Axar Patel 27; Md Shami 4-11, Mohit Sharma 2-33) beat Gujarat Titans 125/6 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 59 not out, Abhinav Manohar 26; Ishant Sharma 2-23, Khaleel Ahmed 2-24) by 5 runs.

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Marsh’s all-round show in vain as SRH beat Delhi Capitals

Apart from Abhishek and Klaasen, most of the SRH batters struggled to get going as the team lost wickets at regular intervals. On the other hand, barring Marsh, who bowled a maiden and bagged four wickets, none of the DC bowlers made a mark…reports Asian  Lite News

Mitchell Marsh’s all-round performance (4-27 and 63 off 39) went in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Delhi Capitals by nine runs in Match No. 40 of IPL 2023 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, here on Saturday. With this win, Delhi Capitals return to winning ways after a three-match losing streak in the ongoing season.

Brilliant attacking fifties by Abhishek Sharma (67 off 36) and Heinrich Klaasen (53 off 27) propelled Sunrisers Hyderabad to 197/6 against Delhi Capitals despite Mitchell Marsh’s four-fer (4-27).

Apart from Abhishek and Klaasen, most of the SRH batters struggled to get going as the team lost wickets at regular intervals. On the other hand, barring Marsh, who bowled a maiden and bagged four wickets, none of the DC bowlers made a mark.

In reply, the likes of Marsh and Phil Salt (59 off 35) smashed the fifties and lower down the order, Axar Patel (29 off 14) also tried his best but it was not enough as Delhi suffered their sixth defeat of the season to lie at the bottom of the table. On the other hand, it was the third win for SRH in eight matches as they are at the eighth spot in the points table.

Chasing a big total, Delhi Capitals lost the wicket of skipper David Warner in the very first over of the innings bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a two-ball duck. Despite Warner’s wickets, the likes of Phil Salt and Mitchell Marsh decided to counter-attack. Both Salt and Marsh looked in good touch and dealt in boundaries and sixes to take Delhi Capitals to 57 runs in the first six overs.

Umran Malik came to bowl the 7th over and he was taken to the cleaners by Delhi batters with their pacer conceding 22 runs. Even Abhishek Sharma was not spared and 12 runs were scored in his over.

Though leg-spinner Mayank Markande bowled with discipline and both Salt and Marsh played him carefully, they kept the scoreboard ticking to make a century-stand and propelled Delhi Capitals to 101/1 at the halfway mark. During the process, Salt reached his maiden IPL half-century as well.

Soon after Mash hit Natarajan to score his fifty in 28 balls as Delhi were cruising towards the total. But as has been the case during the season, it was again Markande, who brought SRH back in the game by removing the dangerous Salt.

His spin partners Abhishek and Akeal then got rid of Manish Pandey (1) and big fish Marsh in quick succession. Youngsters Priyam Garg (12) and Sarfaraz Khan (9) also failed to grab the opportunity as Delhi were left struggling to 148-6 after 16.5 overs.

With 49 needed off 18 balls, Delhi had hopes from all-rounder Axar Patel and Ripal Patel and both did well to collect 14 runs from Bhuvneshwar to bring down the equation to 35 runs off 12 balls. But Natarajan bowled an excellent over and gave away just nine runs.

Delhi Capitals needed 26 needed off the last over to win and seasoned pacer Bhuvneshwar gave just 16 runs, despite Axar hitting him for a six and four, to ensure a nine-run victory for SRH.

Earlier, SRH won the toss, opted to bat first and were off to a decent start courtesy of opener Abhishek Sharma’s attacking approach. They scored 62/2 after the end of the first six overs — their second-highest powerplay score this season.

While other batters struggled to get going in the Power-play, Abhishek looked in fine touch and gave Delhi bowlers equal treatment, hitting them for some sublime boundaries. The likes of Mayank Agarwal (5) and Rahul Tripathi (10) disappointed once again, getting out cheaply. The wickets were falling from the other end but despite that, Abhishek decided to continue his aggressive approach and brought up his half-century off 25 balls by hitting six Kuldeep for a six.

However, skipper Aiden Markram, who was dropped by Anrich Nortje at long-off in Kuldeep Yadav’s over, couldn’t do much as Mitchell Marsh dismissed the South African for 8. With his superb variations, Marsh bagged another wicket when he got rid of Harry Brook (0), who has struggled for most of the season, except for his century knock in one game.

SRH were 83/4 after 9.4 overs with Abhishek at the crease but the left-hander needed some support. Heinrich Klaasen then joined hands with Abhishek and together they smashed Mukesh Kumar for 24 runs in the 11th over to give some much-needed impetus to SRH innings.

Just when it looked that the partnership would flourish for Sunrisers, Abhishek got out to Axar Patel, leaving SRH in deep trouble. However, Klaasen along with Abdul Samad revived the Hyderabad innings with a useful partnership.

Both Klaasen and Samad mostly dealt in sixes and stitched a vital stand of 53 runs before Marsh struck once again to give Delhi a timely breakthrough by getting rid of the Jammu & Kashmir batter.

From there on, Klaasen had the responsibility to finish it well for Sunrisers and he didn’t disappoint. The South African batter took Delhi bowlers to cleaners in the last few overs and went on to record his first IPL fifty. Klaasen was well-aided by Akeal Hosein’s unbeaten 10-ball 16 as SRH posted 197-6 in 20 overs, which was a winning total in the end.

Brief scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad 197/6 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 67, Heinrich Klaasen 53; Mitchell Marsh 4-27) beat Delhi Capitals 188/6 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 63, Philip Salt; Mayank Markande 2-20) by 9 runs.

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