Birthday-boy Rishabh Pant looked a relieved captain after Delhi Capitals completed a thrilling 3-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in Match 50 of the Indian Premier League in Dubai on Monday.
But that’s when the match turned completely as Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur triggered a collapse which saw DC lose 4 wickets for 28 runs in less than 6 overs.
That’s when Shimron Hetmyer put his hand up and took charge of the match from one end. Needing 28 from the last three over, Hetmyer picked 12 runs against Dwayne Bravo and then got 10 off pacer Josh Hazlewood to bring down the equation to six runs from six balls.
DC completed the job with two balls to spare despite losing Axar Patel. Hetmyer remained not out on a vital 28 off 18 balls, including a crucial six in the penultimate over.
“Not a bad birthday present, was a tough match, we made it tough for ourselves. In the end if we win everything is fine. In the powerplay, they came hard and got away. After that we bowled some good overs. In the end, they got away with some extra runs.
“With the bat, Prithvi got us to a good start. We were always in the chase as it was a low total, in the end we got over the line. Prithvi is going to play that way and Shikhar is going to help him playing that way, but he started well. We got what we needed from him and in the end, Hetty (Hetmyer) finished it off for us,” Pant, who turned 24 on Monday, said after the match.
With 20 points in 13 matches, Delhi Capitals boosted their chances of finishing in the top 2 of the IPL 2021 points table and get an extra shot at reaching the final thanks to this victory which helped them move over CSK in first position.
“Big win, because of this we can be absolutely sure that we can finish in top two. So it’s a great win for us,” Pant concluded.
