New Delhi [India], April 25 : After his side's 4-run victory over Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi Capitals (DC) spinner Kuldeep Yadav said that these two points are very important in the tournament.
Kuldeep picked up 2 wickets in his four-over spell for 29 runs at an economy rate of 7.20.
While speaking at the post-match presentation, Kuldeep said he was "happy" at the win and added that the team knew it was going to be "tight" when the match went to the last over.
The 29-year-old further said he just focused on his "lines and lengths" while bowling.
"Happy to get the win. These two points are very important. Amazing game. When we went into the last over, knew it was going to be very tight. We had a plan, coach and captain wanted one over when Tewatia came into bat. Luckily it worked out. You have to read the batsmen and see what they are trying to do. We batted well, 225 is a good total. I didn't want to try too much when I came into bowl. Just focused on my lines and lengths and saw what the batters were trying to do. (On Tewatia's wicket) I bowled a few balls into the wicket to him, thought he might slog-sweep, it was a good plan from the keeper and we got the wicket," Kuldeep said.
Recapping the match, Gujarat won the toss and opted to bowl first. After a swift start from openers, Jake Fraser McGurk (23) and Prithvi Shaw (11), DC was restricted to 44/3. Then, Axar Patel (66) and Rishabh Pant launched a counterattack on GT. In the death overs, Pant joined forces with Tristan Stubbs (26*) to destroy GT's death bowling. Pant finished at 88* in 43 balls, with five fours and eight sixes.
DC was 224/4 in their 20 overs. Sandeep Warrier (3/15) was the pick of the bowlers for GT.
In the run-chase, GT lost skipper Shubman Gill early. A counter-attack was once again in the works as Wriddhiman Saha (39) and Sai Sudarshan (65) had an 82-run partnership. In the later stages, David Miller (55), Sai Kishore (13) and Rashid Khan (21*) put pressure on DC bowlers, but the hosts held their nerves to win the game by four runs, restricting GT to 220/8 in their 20 overs.
Rasikh Salam (3/44) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/29) were among the top bowlers for DC.
DC is at the sixth spot in the points table, with four wins, five losses and eight points. On the other hand, GT is at the seventh spot with the same win-loss and points, but an inferior net run rate.