Credit: IPL/BCCI
On Saturday, April 19, Gujarat Titans (GT) defeated Delhi Capitals (DC) by seven wickets in the match 35th of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, to jump into first place in the standings at the halfway stage of the tournament. Jos Buttler smashed an unbeaten 97 in 54 with 11 fours and four sixes, to help GT chase down a tough target of 204 runs with four balls to spare.
For the unversed, after winning the toss, Shreyas Iyer, the captain of Gujarat Titans, decided to bowl first, and while his bowlers took the key wickets of Abhisek Porel and KL Rahul, they conceded above 11 runs-per-over in the power play stage. Karun Nair kept the momentum of the DC innings going, but Prasidh Krishna took the wicket of his fellow Karnataka cricketer for 31 runs in 18 balls with two fours and two maximums.
DC captain Axar Patel (39 off 32) shared a crucial fourth-wicket stand of 53 runs with Tristan Stubbs (31 off 21), to keep the momentum going in their innings. After Prasidh Krishna dismissed Axar Patel and Vipraj Nigam in the same over, taking four wickets in his spell for GT, it was Ashutosh Sharma, who provided the late impetus to the DC innings, scoring 37 runs in 19 balls with two fours and three sixes, to help them reach 203/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
In the run chase, Shubman Gill was run out for seven runs after Karun Nair nailed a direct hit from inside the 30-yard circle, but then, his opening partner Sai Sudharsan, who holds the orange cap in the IPL 2025 currently, shared a 60-run stand with Jos Buttler. A drag down from Kuldeep Yadav did for Sai Sudharsan for 36 runs in 21 balls with five fours and one maximum, but he had put GT well on their way in pursuit of the 204-run target.
From this point onwards, Jos Buttler dominated the DC bowlers alongside Sherfane Rutherford, sharing a 119-run stand for the third wicket, but the indifferent innings from West Indies left-hander of 43 runs in 34 balls, gave the opposition a sniff. With 11 runs in seven balls needed, Rahul Tewatia took the matter of finishing the match in own hands, and he did it in just three balls, while Jos Buttler couldn’t get a chance to go past a three-figure score.
