Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant admitted his team could have batted better against Gujarat Titans at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Saturday after losing by 14 runs in the 10th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League. The Capitals had to chase down 172, which was 10-15 runs below par but they could cross the line.
Rishabh Pant-led team lost three wickets in the powerplay overs and they were put under the pressure. Furthermore, the Capitals lost three more wickets in the middle overs, with two of them falling in the 15th over, which was bowled by Lockie Ferguson.
The New Zealander first dismissed Rishabh Pant with a short pitched delivery and then accounted for Axar Patel to get Gujarat Titans back in the contest. Subsequently, Mohammed Shami plumbed Rovman Powell in front of the wickets to put the match to bed.
Rishabh Pant said in the post-match presentation, “I think according to the wicket that total was not so big. We could have batted well specially in the middle overs, we lost three wickets in the powerplay and three in the middle. I think every match is going to be hard after losing so many wickets. Depending on the weather conditions (we will decide to bat or bowl first), but we are not thinking about that now and we will see when we come back to Pune. He (Ponting) has been amazing since day one. When you lose you feel heartbroken but at the end of the day if you keep improving and have a better environment then people can perform in the next match.”
Rishabh Pant was the top-scorer for Delhi Capitals as he scored 43 runs but was dismissed when he played a half-hearted shot. Mandeep Singh, Lalit Yadav and Rovman Powell got off to starts but could not convert them into substantial scores in the run-chase.
Meanwhile, earlier in the match, Shubman Gill played a fine knock of 84 runs for Gujarat Titans to help them post 171 runs on the board. Mustafizur Rahman was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi Capitals as he scalped three wickets in his quota of four overs.
However, Lockie Ferguson bowled a match-winning spell of 4-28 to restrict Delhi Capitals at 157-9. Thus, he was awarded the Player of the Match for his bowling performance.
Delhi Capitals will next face Lucknow Super Giants on Thursday at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy.
