Delhi Capitals defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 19 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday to diminish the playoff hopes of both competitors. The Capitals dominated powerplays in both innings to rattle the Super Giants and stay alive in the tournament, albeit only mathematically.
LSG managed to send back Jake Fraser McGurk cheaply in the first over – the Aussie was caught at long-on off Arshad Khan’s bowling for a duck with a well-laid-out trap for the belligerent opener.
Abhishek Porel then took the matter in his own hands and made optimum use of powerplay. He made sure to tonk the bowlers to all parts of the ground. The highlight was 21 runs of the third over wherein he hit three boundaries and a maximum. The southpaw hit back-to-back boundaries to start the over, before pulling a six to the deep mid-wicket. As if that wasn’t enough, he creamed the last ball of the over through extra cover.
Shai Hope too joined the party and scored 16 runs of the fourth over with a couple of boundaries and a six to add to the tally. DC had crossed the 50-run mark at the end of the 4th over.
Porel continued his fierce batting and took apart Naveen-ul-Haq in the last over of the powerplay with two sixes and a boundary. The home side had rushed to 73/1 at the end of the powerplay and Fraser’s wicket—that LSG were delighted with—seemed a thing of the past.
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A story of two powerplays
With 28 dismissals, DC had lost most wickets in powerplays this season but they dominated their batting powerplay with the scoreboard reading 73/1. LSG bowlers looked hapless and skipper Rahul—who was fielding at mid-off or mid-on for maximum time – was seen talking to them often but nothing went the visitors’ way.
Approximately 90 minutes later, DC had almost knocked LSG out of the game after dominating the bowling powerplay as well. If Porel starred in the batting powerplay, the old horse Ishant Sharma was at the helm with the ball.
Ishant sent back KL Rahul on five off three balls in the first over itself as Mukesh Kumar took a juggling catch running back towards cover point. In his next over, Ishant saw the back of Quinton de Kock on 12 runs. The pacer came back for his third over and caught Deepak Hooda plumb in front of wickets for a duck. Ishant registered the fifth instance of a bowler bagging three wickets in the powerplay.
Amidst Ishant’s fiery spell, Rishabh Pant stumped Marcus Stoinis off Axar Patel’s bowling and LSG were reduced to 59/4 at the end of six overs.
While LSG kept losing wickets from one end, Nicholas Pooran fought hard for his side. Even DC’s lethal weapon Kuldeep Yadav was not a worry as the Caribbean smacked a reverse hit six immediately after powerplay.
Pooran raced to a 20-ball fifty and kept LSG’s faint hopes alive. However, Axar took a sharp catch at point at the start of the 12th over and that almost sealed the game for DC.
Batters to follow couldn’t do much as both Ayush Badoni and Krunal Pandya failed to make an impression and left LSG with an uphill task.
LSG scored 76 runs from overs 7 – 15 and lost three wickets. While they scored more runs than DC in the middle overs, the latter had dusted the game in the two powerplays itself.
Arshad Khan raised hopes for LSG with a brilliant rearguard half-century – 54 off 28 balls. An innings that seemed to be a cameo initially, soon turned into a dangerous heist attempt. But LSG lost wickets at the other end. DC quicks Rasikh Salam and Mukesh Kumar held their nerves at the death to stop the flow of runs at the right moment.
DC’s win keeps them in the playoffs race mathematically, but considering the NRR of DC and LSG, both are virtually out of the tournament unless LSG can make a miracle happen in their last league match. The outcome of today’s match will also be a big boost for RCB to reach the playoffs.