The action returned in the 16th edition of the Indian T20 League (ITL) on Tuesday, with Delhi hosting Gujarat in the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The visitors won the toss and elected to bowl first. Skipper David Warner and Prithvi Shaw opened the batting for the home team, with Shaw dismissed for a cheap score of 7.
David Warner scored 37 off 32, while impact player Sarfaraz Khan played a slow innings bagging 30 off 34 deliveries. Final flourished from Abhishek Porel (20 off 11), and Axar Patel (36 off 22) took Delhi’s total to 162/8 within 20 overs.
Rashid Khan remained the pick of the bowlers for Gujarat, returning with three wickets whilst conceding 31 runs in four overs. Mohammed Shami also returned with three wickets but conceded a hefty 41 runs in his four overs. Alzari Joseph bagged two in the game and remained economical, giving away just 29 in four overs.
Sai Sudarshan starred with an unbeaten 62 off 48
In reply, the defending champions started off shakily, losing both their openers for identical individual scores of 14 runs. At the same time, skipper Hardik Pandya was soon dismissed for just five runs, with Delhi reaching 54/3 within the first six overs. A decent partnership between Sai Sudarshan and Impact player Vijay Shankar (29 off 23) steadied the Gujarat innings taking the score to 107/4 in 13.2 overs as Mitchell Marsh caught the impact player lbw.
David Miller (32 off 16) then entered the game; alongside Sudarshdan, who scored 62 off 48 and finished off the job for Gujarat. For Delhi, Anrich Nortje remained the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/39 in his four overs. This is Delhi’s second consecutive loss and Gujarat’s second consecutive win in the ITL 2023. Gujarat are now the table toppers with four points off two games.
Next in the Indian T20 League, Rajasthan will take on Punjab in the former’s home ground. The two teams have won their campaign openers against Hyderabad and Kolkata, respectively. While Rajasthan came out thumping winners in Hyderabad’s home ground, Punjab had to resort to DLS to win their first game.
Here’s how fans reacted to Gujarat’s clinical victory:
Election ho yaa field, Modi ki jeet nischit
— Cricket Fan 07 (@Manas_pr_sharma) April 4, 2023
We are winning the IPL again!
Aava De!
— ?????? ?? ? (@__gurudas) April 4, 2023
— Fluky Cricketer (@flukycricketer) April 4, 2023
GT are very Lucky to have Gary and Nehra as Coaching Staff….. No Big Names but success rate is 100% what more you want
— ColtKshatriya (@KshatriyaColt) April 4, 2023
When Vijay Shankar is out…..DC lost the match.
So, respect always tuktuk academy players.#GTvsDC #DCvsGT pic.twitter.com/XQZqr6sAk4— @ (@RegardsPKFan) April 4, 2023
Another 40Ball 50 Merchant
— ? (@Ro45Goat) April 4, 2023
Chase Master DAVID MILLER ?
— utsav (@Utsav138098214) April 4, 2023
People still waiting for GT to be "exposed" pic.twitter.com/BzdwjOoZfs
— Negative Impact player (@Fictional_Jaii) April 4, 2023
