IPL 2022 debutants Gujarat Titans made it two wins in as many matches with a thrilling victory over the highly fancied Delhi Capitals in Pune.
In what was a relatively low scoring match, Gujarat got it spot on in their bowling performance and picked up wickets at regular intervals to orchestrate a spectacular Delhi collapse in the final overs of the tie.
The pick of the GT bowlers was without doubt Lockie Ferguson who finished with 4/28 which included the scalps of Prithvi Shaw, Mandeep Singh, Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel -- all of whom had raced off to a quick start but fell victim to the New Zealander's precision bowling.
Shaw's classic four off the very first ball of Delhi's innings signalled a clear message to Gujarat -- that DC were willing to attack from the get go and make quick work of the chase at hand.
The treatment accorded to Mohammed Shami -- who was the star of the show in GT's first game against the Lucknow Super Giants -- was particularly ruthless as the pacer bore the brunt of Delhi's initial aggression.
At the end of three overs, Delhi were 20/1 with both Shaw and Mandeep taking on the bowlers aggressively, finding the boundaries with relative ease. The stage could not have been better set for Ferguson to make his grand entrance which he duly did by dismissing Shaw with his very first delivery.
His turn of pace deceived Shaw whose attempted pull to deep backward square leg sailed into Vijay Shankar's waiting hands. Barely four deliveries later, Ferguson struck again -- this time it was Mandeep, who up until that point had already hit four fours in a quickfire 18 off 24 balls.
Mandeep attempted a late cut off a short-pitched delivery, but all he managed was a slight edge as the ball swung inwards and landed square in 'keeper Matthew Wade's gloves.
Onto the 15th over and Ferguson struck again with his very first ball, this time accounting for DC Captain Pant who had been involved in a crucial 50 run stand with Lalit Yadav and was Delhi's best bet to deliver the win.
Axar's wicket came next, caught behind by Wade off a slower delivery. Any hopes of a Delhi revival were firmly put to rest as the wickets kept falling at an alarming pace.
Skipper Hardik Pandya heaped praise on Ferguson in his post match interview: 'That over from Lockie changed the momentum... In a league where pitches heavily favour the batters and teams opt to chase totals, it is refreshing to see the bowlers taking the spotlight for a change.'
