IPL 2023 | Gujarat Titans restrict Delhi Capitals to 162/8

Gujarat Titans’ Mohammed Shami and Rahul Tewatia celebrate the dismissal of Delhi Capitals’ Mitchell Marsh during their match in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, at Arun Jaitley Stadium, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Delhi Capitals top-order’s struggles against genuine quick bowling worsened as the home team managed a below-par 162 for eight against Gujarat Titans on a spicy Feroz Shah Kotla track in the IPL here on Tuesday.

Had Axar Patel (36 off 22 balls) not used his long handle to good effect, even 150 would have looked a distant reality for DC.

Mohammed Shami (3/41 in 4 overs) and Alzarri Joseph (2/29 in 4 overs) intimidated the top-order in the first 10 while Rashid Khan (3/31 in 4 overs) hardly faced any trouble while keeping the batters under check for the better part of the innings.

Just a month after Kotla produced a turner for the Test against Australia, the change in nature of the track was palpable as the balls literally flew off the surface. At times, it felt that it wasn’t David Warner (37 off 32 balls) or a Sarafaraz Khan’s (30 off 33 balls) bat that hit the ball but the other way round.

Shami literally beat Warner’s bat for fun in his first two overs, often cutting him into half while Alzarri twice forced umpires to call for concussion checks as Sarfaraz and Abhishek Porel (20 off 11 balls) were hit on the head by well-directed bouncers. To be fair, both looked dazed.

Even an international like Rilee Rossouw (0) got a Test match like bouncer first up and was snapped brilliantly at backward point by a diving Rahul Tewatia.

Not being able to avoid the short ball was more due to lack of technique and not regularly facing bowlers of Shami or Alzarri’s quality became their undoing.

Sarfaraz, a heavy-duty scorer in domestic cricket, couldn’t improvise as he found the pace too quick to manoeuvre or improvise his shot selection.

The first two games in IPL against international bowlers is a proof that why former chairman Chetan Sharma’s committee or even the current quartet of selectors are wary of picking him for international assignments. A good domestic player, who is out-of-depth against top-grade bowlers.

And it’s not Sarfaraz alone. Even Prithvi Shaw isn’t inspiring confidence while facing a bowler of Shami’s calibre.

Shaw’s (7) inept technique against fast rising deliveries was once again exposed by the seasoned Shami, who pitched one back of length at a fair pace. The delivery kept climbing on Shaw as he top-edged a pull-shot that was gleefully accepted by Alazarri at mid-on.

Mitchell Marsh was bowled for the second time, this time played on off Shami’s bowling as skipper Hardik Pandya very wisely gave him a third over within the Powerplay and the job was done.

Skipper Warner, who literally played and missed during the first few overs, still used experience to ride on the pace ad bounce before Alzarri got rid of him.

Brief Scores:

Delhi Capitals 162/8; 20 overs (David Warner 37, Sarfaraz Khan 30; Mohammed Shami 3/41, Rashid Khan 3/31, Alzarri Joseph 2/29) vs Gujarat Titans.