Sublime half-centuries from Abishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs, along with veteran pacer Ishant Sharma’s 3-34 helped Delhi Capitals survive a late scare from Arshad Khan to beat Lucknow Super Giants by 19 runs in Match 64 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Tuesday.
After sublime half-centuries from Porel and Stubbs propelled DC to reach a massive 208/4, Ishant starred to reduce LSG to 44/4 in the fifth over. After Nicholas Pooran made a hard-hitting 61, Arshad threatened to take the game away with an unbeaten 58.
But it wasn’t enough as LSG ended up at 189/9, as DC, now in fifth place, ended their group stage with a win and awaited results of other games to know if they can enter the playoffs. The result also means Rajasthan Royals have qualified for the playoffs.
On a high-scoring pitch with short boundaries, Porel impressed yet again with a 33-ball 58, laced with five fours and four sixes, while sharing a 92-run stand with Shai Hope. After taking his time, Stubbs produced a stunning late onslaught to be unbeaten on 57 off 25 balls, hitting three fours and four sixes to lift DC past 200, as the hosts amassed 72 runs off the last five overs.
Pushed into batting first, DC were dealt a huge blow on the second ball when Jake Fraser-McGurk mistimed a loft to be caught at long-on off Arshad for a two-ball duck. Porel continued to impress by upper-cutting Mohsin Khan for six, followed by hitting three fours and a six in Arshad’s second over yielding 21 runs.
Hope opened up by hitting Yudhvir Singh for two fours and a six in a 16-run fourth over, as DC reached its fifty. Porel took the attack to leg-stump deliveries from Naveen-ul-Haq by pulling and swinging hard to hit two sixes and a four as DC ended the power-play at 73/1.
Porel greeted Krunal Pandya with a superb late cut going for four, before reaching his fifty in 21 balls. But spinners Krunal, Deepak Hooda and Ravi Bishnoi created pressure, which resulted in Hope slapping straight to cover, who took the catch on rebound off the leg-spinner, as the batter fell for 27-ball 38.
Three overs later, Porel couldn’t get enough elevation on a slower ball off Naveen-ul-Haq and holed out to deep mid-wicket. Despite falling on the crease while trying to pull once, Pant was able to keep a stable base on his pulls off Bishnoi and Hooda for boundaries.
When Krunal gave him width, Pant was quick to pull wide of mid-wicket and cut past the backward point to collect consecutive boundaries. Stubbs got going when he lofted Arshad for six and four respectively, before bringing out a reverse ramp to send the ball between the keeper and slip for four more in an 18-run 16th over.
Naveen got LSG back when Pant failed to get the timing on a one-handed loft against a wide slower ball and holed out to long-on. Stubbs lofted Mohsin for six, before pulling and lofting Naveen for four and six respectively and got his fifty in 22 balls by lofting the pacer for another maximum. DC had luck on his side when Bishnoi dropped two tough catches of Stubbs and Axar in the final over, as the hosts went past 200.
In defence of 208, Impact Player Ishant scythed through the LSG top-order in the power-play. K.L. Rahul was undone by lack of timing in lofting an Ishant out-swinger and gave a catch to cover-point. Quinton de Kock was next to fall to Ishant – mistiming a loft to mid-on.
Marcus Stoinis danced down the pitch on Axar Patel’s first ball to loft but missed the delivery which turned enough and was stumped easily. Pooran injected some momentum into LSG’s innings by hitting Axar for two fours and as many sixes over the shorter boundary area.
Though Pooran hit two more sixes and a four, including a reverse-sweep off Kuldeep Yadav, he wasn’t getting support from the other end as Ishant trapped Hooda lbw, while Ayush Badoni toe-ended a loft to long-off against Stubbs.
Pooran continued to wage a lone battle by clipping Gulbadin Naib for consecutive boundaries and reached his fifty in 20 balls. But his counter-attacking knock ended in the 12th over when Axar dived forward to take a superb catch at cover off Mukesh Kumar. Once Krunal was stumped off Kuldeep, it felt that DC would coast home to victory.
But Arshad had other ideas, striking Kuldeep for a four and six each, before giving the same treatment to Ishant. Arshad used the long handle well to put DC under more pressure by hitting Khaleel for two sixes and a four. Yudhvir Singh also gave him support by taking a four and six off Rasikh Salam, before holing out to long-off against Khaleel.
Arshad then muscled Rasikh down the ground for six, before getting his fifty in 25 balls, to keep LSG in the hunt by bringing the equation to 29 runs off 12 balls.
Ravi Bishnoi was run out by a throw from Jake Fraser-McGurk in the deep as Mukesh gave only six runs in the 19th over. Rasikh nailed his fuller and slower balls to defend 23 runs in the final over to give DC a narrow win.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 208/4 in 20 overs (Abishek Porel 58, Tristan Stubbs 57 not out; Naveen-ul-Haq 2-51, Ravi Bishnoi 1-26) beat Lucknow Super Giants 189/9 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 61, Arshad Khan 58 not out; Ishant Sharma 3-34, Tristan Stubbs 1-4) by 19 runs