Senior pacer Ishant Sharma shined with the ball in Delhi Capitals’ (DC) thrilling five-run victory over Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday (May 2).
Ishant was tasked to defend 12 runs in the final over against clean strikers like Hardik Pandya and Rahul Tewatia. Amid the pressure situation, the veteran campaigner delivered a brilliant last over, conceding only 6 runs from it besides taking the wicket of Tewatia.
Chasing 131 to win, GT needed 33 runs in the last two overs and Tewatia smashed Anrich Nortje for three sixes in the penultimate over to keep his team in the chase.
In the final over, however, Ishant gave away just 3 runs in the first two balls before bowling a dot ball against Tewatia with a wide yorker. Sharma’s fourth delivery was a short one that got rid of Rahul Tewatia on 20 off 7 balls.
Ishant then held his nerve and closed out the match against Rashid Khan by conceding a double and single on the last two deliveries, respectively.
"I played enough cricket with Tewatia, so was just having fun with him. I knew I had to double bluff him otherwise we know what he can do with the bat," Ishant told broadcasters after the game.
In the powerplay, Ishant Sharma also produced a stunning knuckleball to clean up Vijay Shankar. He eventually returned with the figures of 2 for 23 in his four-over spell.
"I keep practicing in the nets. We practice bowling with the new ball, but at the same time we do practice bowling wide yorkers, and today the hardwork paid off, I just backed myself and bowled wide yorkers. When you are preparing yourself in the nets we plan to certain batsmen as to what to bowl and it is all about executing it every single time, back yourself and believing in yourself," Ishant added.
It was Delhi Capitals’ third win in 9 matches this season and they are still occupying the last spot on the points table.
"From here on, we just carry the momentum and look to win one game at a time and hope for the best from the future," Ishant said.
Delhi Capitals will next face Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday (May 6) in Delhi.
