GT vs DC, Match 44 Stats Review: Delhi Capitals' dominance, Mohammed Shami's best bowling and other stats

A topsy-turvy game that ended in the favour of Delhi Capitals, as they toppled the table-toppers Gujarat Titans by a nervy margin of 5 runs in a low-scoring-affair in match number 44 of Indian Premier League 2023. With this DC registered their first win over GT in the ongoing mega cricket carnival.

The DC skipper, David Warner, won the toss and opted to bat first in Ahmedabad. But the visitors had a horrid start to the game as Mohammed Shami ran through their batters in the powerplay with his fiery bowling display. Shami registered his best IPL figures of 4/11 in 4 overs to leave DC in trouble at 23/5 inside five overs.

Axar Patel and Aman Hakim Khan led the recovery for the Capitals by adding a steady 50 runs partnership for the sixth wicket. Mohit Sharma, then broke the partnership, as Axar Patel departed for well-paced 30-ball 27 runs with the scorecard reading 73/6 in 14 overs. Ripal Patel then partnered with Aman Khan as the duo kept the scorecard ticking with some glorious shots.

Meanwhile, Aman Khan rose to his maiden IPL fifty in a grand fashion. A vital cameo from Ripal Patel (23 off 13 balls) helped DC post a decent total of 130/8 in 20 overs. For GT, Other than Shami’s four wickets, Mohit Sharma picked two wickets and Rashid Khan picked one wicket.

Chasing 131, top-order batters did not live up the expectations as they succumbed to Delhi bowlers’ dominance in the powerplay and were left reeling at 26/3 at the close of the fifth over. Just after the powerplay got over, Kuldeep Yadav cleaned up David Miller for a duck which left GT struggling at 32/4.

Albeit, skipper Hardik Pandya and Abhinav Manohar led the recovery with a composed partnership as the duo added 62 runs for the fifth wicket. In doing so, Pandya rose up to his 10^th IPL fifty. Just when GT needed to accelerate, Khaleel Ahmed then picked up Abhinav Manohar in the 18^th over. With 30 to get in 9 balls, Rahul Tewatia went bonkers against the South African pacer, Anrich Nortje, hitting him for three consecutive sixes, which reduced the equation to 12 runs needed off the last over. In the final over, Ishant Sharma held on to his nerves and propelled DC to register their first win over GT by a margin of 5 runs.

Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and numbers from game number 44 between GT and DC

7 - Mohammed Shami became the seventh bowler  to pick 4 or more wickets in the powerplay in an IPL innings.

131 – Delhi has defended the target of 131 against GT, this is the lowest target defended by DC in the history of IPL bettering their previous best of 145 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2023.

50 - Anrich Nortje completed 50 wickets in IPL.

100 - Mohit Sharma completed 100 wickets in IPL.

4/11 - Mohammed Shami registered his best bowling figure of 4/11 against DC, bettering his previous best of 3/15, which came against the same opposition in 2020. This was also the best bowling figure for a Gujarat Bowler in IPL. Rashid Khan's figure of 4/24 against LSG at Pune is the second-best for GT.

3 - Wriddhiman Saha (102) became the third wicketkeeper to complete 100 dismissals in IPL. MS Dhoni (178) and Dinesh Karthik (169) are the other two players to achieve this feat.

12 - Mohammed Shami has taken 12 wickets in the powerplay in IPL 2023, which is the highest this season surpassing Mohammed Siraj’s tally of 8.

1 - Delhi Registered their first win over GT in IPL.

2 - This is the second time GT is losing a match while chasing in IPL, they have won 12/14 games while chasing.

1 - Delhi Capitals defended the target of 131 against Gujarat, this is the lowest total defended in IPL at Narendra Modi Stadium, previously Sunrisers defended 135 against Rajasthan Royals way back in 2014.

2 - The target of 131 defended by Delhi Capitals is second in the list of targets defended in IPL 2023, RCB defended 127 against LSG in the previous game.

3 - Aman Hakim Khan became the third player to score fifty or more while batting at number seven or less for DC. Axar Patel (54) and Chris Morris (52*) are the other two to do so.