According to the status of the two competing teams on the IPL 2023 points table, the match was going according to plan until the scoreboard showed 23/5 after five overs.
Delhi Capitals, the club at the bottom of the rankings, was left in Ahmedabad gasping for air by Gujarat Titans, the table-toppers.
Mohammed Shami was the master wrecker, delivering four consecutive overs to end with outstanding bowling stats of 4/11.
DC managed to rebound and record a respectable 130/8. GT was anticipated to easily chase down the objective, but DC made a match of it and ultimately prevailed by five runs.
Rahul Tewatia's three consecutive sixes in the 19th over and skipper Hardik Pandya's good fifty in the 19th over gave GT some hope for an exciting finish, but they ultimately lost.
Naturally, Pandya was unhappy with the outcome, but he was also quite complimentary of Shami.
In response to a question on Shami's ferocious performance with the new ball, Pandya stated, “I feel terrible for him (Shami). If you bowl like that and your team reaches 129 (or 130), I believe the hitters will be dissatisfied. The ball didn't seem to have done anything. I believe it was simply Mohammed Shami's skill set, which he has, that caused the ball to speak.
Pandya said, “Otherwise, I believe the pitch did not provide much support for fast bowlers. But great credit to Shamir for bowling four consecutive strikes to keep us in the game. As I have said, the batters, myself in particular, did not complete, and we let him down. There are still more games to play. We'll use what we've learned from this game to make things a little bit better in the future.
The top of GT's order was lost quickly, much like DC, but Pandya and Abhinav Manohar came together to patch things up with a 62-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
We hoped to get a few huge overs in the middle, but we were unable to establish a rhythm. It all comes down to the fact that I was unable to complete the game, which was new for Abhinav as well. Full credit goes to the bowlers, and I take full responsibility for the loss because I was unable to complete the task, Pandya said.
