Delhi Capitals secured a thrilling one-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants in a high-scoring IPL encounter, with Ashutosh Sharma and Vipraj Nigam guiding DC to an improbable win.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper Rishabh Pant admitted that his bowlers could have executed the basics better in the death overs, allowing Delhi Capitals (DC) to chase down a daunting 210-run target with three balls to spare. DC, seemingly out of the contest at 113/6, turned the tide with a sensational 66* off 31 balls from Ashutosh Sharma and an explosive 39 off 15 deliveries by Vipraj Nigam.
Rishabh Pant On Performance Against DC
“I think our top-order batters played really well, and I think it was a pretty good score on this wicket. We got early wickets, but we knew it was a good wicket to bat on. We had to keep doing the basics right more often. I think they had a couple of good partnerships,” Pant said during the post-match presentation.
Pant praised DC’s Tristan Stubbs, who provided the initial momentum before Ashutosh and Vipraj took over. “One with Stubbs, with Ashutosh, and one with one other guy (Vipraj Nigam.) I think he (Nigam) did a pretty good job and took the game away from us. There was enough for the bowlers, but I think we could have done the basics right. We felt the pressure, we are still settling in, but a lot of positives to take from this match,” Pant added.
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An elated DC skipper Axar Patel embraced the unpredictability that comes with captaincy, urging fans to prepare for more thrilling encounters. “Be prepared for it now. It’s going to be like this only under my captaincy. Things will be up and down a little. Now that we have won, people won’t complain about why I gave that over to Stubbs (28 runs),” Axar quipped.
Axar acknowledged the challenges posed by aggressive batting in modern T20 cricket. “Don’t remember the last time I saw something like this. The way they played in the first six overs, we felt we gave a few too many early on. We dropped some catches as well. It looked like they could score 240, but we pulled things back,” he added.
