Experienced bowler Ishant Sharma demonstrated his abilities with figures of 3-34, taking Delhi Capitals through to a nail-biting 19-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants in Match 64 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday.
A strong total of 208/4, based on fine half-centuries from Abishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs, set the platform for Delhi's win. Ishant's fine show early on had Lucknow reeling at 44/4 in the fifth over. However, thanks to Nicholas Pooran's fighting 61 and an unbeaten 58 from Arshad Khan, Lucknow ended at 189/9 to fall short. Delhi Capitals won this encounter, wrapping up their league stage engagements, looking ahead toward the playoffs, subject to other results. With this result, Rajasthan Royals also qualified for the playoffs.
Looking to defend their massive total, Ishant Sharma made huge inroads into the Lucknow batting lineup in the Power-play. His deliveries accounted for key batsmen like K.L. Rahul and Quinton de Kock falling. Though Marcus Stoinis tried to give momentum to the Lucknow innings, crafty bowling by Axar Patel saw his stumping. Aggressive batting by Pooran was keeping Lucknow hopes alive, but Ishant's precision had Hooda and Ayush Badoni falling to dent their chase further.
Though Pooran held on for his half-century, Lucknow's hopes were killed when Axar pulled off an acrobatic catch to dismiss him. Wickets fell regularly after this and it seemed to be a matter of when and not if Delhi would have a big win. However, Arshad Khan's determined hitting, including big shots over Kuldeep Yadav and Ishant Sharma, meant that the tension was only just alive. Support from Yudhvir Singh in a brief appearance had Arshad's explosive innings keeping Lucknow in the game, bringing the equation down to 29 runs with 12 balls left.
The drama was added by an impressive run-out by Jake Fraser-McGurk and economical bowling by Mukesh Kumar in the penultimate over. Rasikh Salam bowled with composure in the final over and Delhi won by a narrow margin, having defended 23 runs successfully.
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