Shubman Gill, Lockie Ferguson lead Gujarat Titans to 14-run win over Delhi

A fantastic knock by Shubman Gill 84 off 46 and clinical bowling performance by Lockie Ferguson 424 led Gujarat Titans to a 14run win over Delhi Capitals in an IPL 2022 match at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here on SaturdayOpening the batting Shubman played a sparkling knock and propelled Gujarat Titans to 1716 in 20 overs It was also Gills highest T20 score Apart from Gill skipper Hardik Pandya 31 off 27 and David Miller 20 not out off 15 also made valuable contributions with the bat for Gujarat who were invited to bat firstChasing a challenging target Delhi Capitals were off to a terrible start as Hardik Pandya got rid of Tim Seifert 3 in his first ball Mandeep Singh 18 then joined Prithvi Shaw 10 and they played some attacking shots before Lockie Ferguson dismissed both batters in the same over to put Gujarat Titans on topThereafter Rishabh Pant 43 and Lalit Yadav 25 steadied the Delhi innings They kept Delhi in the chase with some timely boundaries before a run out ended Lalits innings Pant nudged the ball into the legside and they tried to steal the second run but Manohars throw at the nonstrikers end was on the money catching the batter shortPant and R Powell who came to bat next took on Tewatia by cracking a few shots However every single time Delhi seemed to have found a way out of a dark tunnel Ferguson shut the door on them The Kiwi pacer dismissed both Pant and Axar Patel in the same over leaving DC in deep trouble It got from bad to worse when Shardul Thakur tried to slog Rashid but was trapped in frontShami 230 then tricked R Powell with the cutter while Khaleel was done in by hard length in the same over putting Delhi in more trouble In the end Delhi Capitals were restricted to 1579 in 20 overs losing by 14 runsEarlier Gujarat Titans didnt have a great start as Mustafizur Raham struck in the first over to dismiss Matthew Wade for 1 However the wicket didnt affect Shubman Gill who played some strokes to score some quick runs for Gujarat On the other hand Vijay Shankar who came to bat at No 3 was struggling to time the ball against the Delhi seamersNevertheless Gill continued his beast mode and took Gujarat to 441 after the 6 overs As soon as the powerplay came to an end skipper Rishabh Pant brought Kuldeep Yadav into the attack and he gave Delhi the breakthrough in the very first ball of the over by removing Vijay Shankar 13With two down Gujarat were in a spot of bother and Gill and skipper Hardik Pandya took a cautious approach to keep the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles After spending enough time in the middle Hardik decided to up the ante and hit Thakur for two fours giving some impetus to his team At the other end Gill also completed his fifty off 32 balls and then smashed Khaleel Ahmed for backtoback boundariesWith both Gill and Pandya going strong Delhi desperately needed a wicket and Khaleel broke the dangerous stand by removing the Gujarat skipper for 31 off 27 But Gill was in a different mood and dealt in sixes against Delhi spinners Axar and KuldeepDelhi got some respite from Gills sixhitting spree as he used his slower deliveries to perfection and conceded just runs in his over to slow down things But it was Khaleel who finally got the big wicket of Gill The batter played a pull shot but failed to get the desired distance and the ball went straight into the hands of Axar Patel at deep midwicketAfter Gills wicket in the 18th over Gujarat Titans could not hit the fifth gear which was required for a solid finish David Miller 20 and Rahul Tewatia 14 tried to break the shackles but Mustafizur was just too good with his cutters and change of pace The Bangladesh pacer conceded just four runs in the 20th over as Gujarat Titans finished with 171 for 6Mustafizur 323 was the highest wickettaker for Delhi Capitals while Khaleel Ahmed 234 and Kuldeep Yadav 132 also chipped in with wicketsBrief scores Gujarat Titans 1716 in 20 overs Shubman Gill 84 Hardik Pandya 31 Mustafizur Rahman 323 beat Delhi 1579 in 20 overs Rishabh Pant 43 Lalit Yadav 25 Lockie Ferguson 424 by 14 runs