Delhi Capitals (DC) lost to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in a game that was anyone’s till the last over. Defending a target of 150, Rishabh Pant’s side recovered well after Quinton de Kock’s match-winning 80 but in the end, it was too tough an ask for the bowlers. Pant admitted that his side faltered in the death overs while batting first as they were 10-15 runs short of the par score at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai.
“When the dew is like that you can't be complaining, as a batting unit we were 10-15 short, at the end Avesh and Holder pulled it back, credit to them,” the DC skipper said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
LSG captain KL Rahul won the toss and elected to field first. Once again, dew became the villain for the defending team. Playing his first match after recovering from injury, Anrich Nortje struggled to grip the ball and bowled two no balls. The above-waist height no balls led to him getting banned from bowling for the rest of the match.
Earlier, in the first innings, Pant and Sarfaraz Khan had set a good platform but failed to capitalise in the death overs. In the last three overs, just one score boundary was hit despite two set batters Pant and Sarfaraz occupying the crease. Avesh Khan and Jason Holder did well to restrict DC to 149/3.
Pant struggled at the beginning. The wicketkeeper-batter took on Andrew Tye and hit him for two sixes and one four. However, even after a big over against Tye, he managed to score 39 runs from 36 balls at a strike rate of 108.33. In the middle overs, the plan to send Rovman Powell at no.3 backfired as well. The Caribbean batter scored just three runs from 10 deliveries.
After the loss, DC remain in the seventh position with one win from three games. Their net run rate (NRR) is now negative too. On the other hand, LSG rose to the second spot, just behind Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). LSG have won three consecutive matches after losing the first game against Gujarat Titans (GT).
