Gujarat survives David Miller’s late blitz for a 1-run win over Delhi in Indian Premier League

Audio By Carbonatix

NEW DELHI, India (AP) — Gujarat Titans withstood David Miller’s late onslaught to record a one-run victory over Delhi Capitals on the final ball Wednesday in the Indian Premier League.

Needing two runs off Prasidh Krishna’s last ball, Miller missed the slower short ball and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler hit the stumps at the striker’s end with Kuldeep Yadav well short of his crease as Delhi finished at 209-8.

Earlier, half-centuries from Shubman Gill (70), Washington Sundar (55) and Buttler (52) led Gujarat to 210-4 after Axar Patel won the toss in Delhi’s home game and elected to field.

Gujarat was in control when Lokesh Rahul (92 off 52 balls) missed out on a century and Mohammed Siraj had him caught behind in the 17th over.

With Delhi still requiring 45 of the last three overs, Miller returned to the crease after the South African left-hander had got retired hurt in the 12th over after a hand injury during batting.

Kagiso Rabada conceded just nine runs in the 18th over before Miller hit Siraj for 23 runs in the penultimate over, reducing the target to 13 of Krishna’s last over.

Vipraj Nigam smacked Krishna’s first delivery over mid off for a boundary before he got caught off the next ball, but Miller’s big six off the fourth ball reduced the target to two runs from the final two balls.

Miller could have tied the score, but he didn’t run a single off the fifth ball as he pulled to deep backward square leg before he missed out the final ball and Yadav got run out as Gujarat finally got its first points this season after losing twice.

Rashid Khan’s superb spell of 3-17 in the middle overs brought Gujarat back ias the leg-spinner chipped in with the wickets of Nitish Rana (5) and Sameer Rizvi for nought in one over before rounding out his spell with the wicket of Patel (2).

Earlier, Gill anchored Gujarat to a strong total with two solid partnerships. Buttler smashed five sixes and three fours in his 27-ball blitz before he was undone by Yadav and got clean bowled in the eighth over.

But Sundar and Gill kept the momentum going with a 104-run stand as Sundar completed his maiden IPL fifty. Lungi Ngidi, who consistently deceived batters with slower deliveries, had Gill caught at mid-off with a ball that lacked pace.

Sundar fell in the last over to Mukesh Kumar, who finished with expensive figures of 2-55 after conceding 12 runs of his final over.

___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket