Visakhapatnam, March 25 After Ashutosh Sharma's late carnage of unbeaten 31 balls 66 helped Delhi Capitals edge out Lucknow Super Giants by one wicket in the fourth match at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, skipper Rishabh Pant admitted that his team LSG felt the pressure as they lost control of the match but credited Ashutosh and Vipraj Nigam for their crucial partnership that turned the game in their favour.
Chasing 210, DC had a terrible start, losing three wickets for just eight runs. The situation worsened when Faf du Plessis and Axar Patel, who had steadied the innings, were also dismissed, leaving DC at 85 for 5. The required run rate kept climbing, and the match seemed to be slipping away.
"I think the runs were enough on the board. The batters batted really well. We may have lost the momentum in the middle but I think that was a pretty good score on this wicket. Definitely as a team we are looking to take positives from every match and learn from it. I think the more we get basics right the better we will get. We need to do the basics right more often," Pant said after the match.
That’s when Ashutosh Sharma took control. He was on 20 off 20 balls with the required rate over 12, but he accelerated at the right time, smashing 46 off his next 11 balls. Vipraj Nigam also played a crucial role, scoring 39 off just 15 balls before falling to Digvesh Rathi. Ashutosh continued the attack, taking the game deep and finishing in style with a six off Shahbaz Ahmed in the final over to seal the win for DC with three balls to spare.
"I think they had two good partnerships between Stubbsy, Ashutosh and... one more guy [Nigam] I think as the more the ball got older there was help for the bowlers but we could have done the basics more. We felt the pressure. It's early in the tournament and we are settling in. Luck plays a big part, if it hadn't hit his pad, it would have been a big chance for stumping."
Earlier, LSG had posted 209 for 8, thanks to explosive knocks from Nicholas Pooran (75 off 30) and Mitchell Marsh (72 off 36). At one stage, LSG seemed on course for 250, but DC’s bowlers pulled things back, conceding only 49 runs in the last seven overs while picking up seven wickets.
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