Prasidh and Buttler combine as Gujarat Titans upstage Delhi Capitals to go top

On a burning-hot day, on a flat track, Prasidh Krishna dazzled with a four-for to restrict Delhi Capitals to a par total of 203. Sai Sudharsan gave a brisk start, Buttler (unbeaten 54-ball 97) and Sherfane Rutherford (43) exploded in the middle overs, and Rahul Tewatia finished the job in the final over with a six and a four.The big screen flashed “Smooth as Buttler”. It’s a slogan that Jos Buttler should make his mantra as he awaits the ball in his stance. If there is an issue, it comes when he loses his shape, going for an ungainly heave or two. When he stays still, and focuses on timing, there aren’t many batsmen so easy on the eye and yet as effective.
Like the treatment he meted out to Mitchell Starc in the match-deciding 15th over of the chase in Ahmedabad. The equation read 66 needed from six overs, and Starc who had spectacularly turned around a game just a couple of days, ran in at full steam. Two very-full outside-off balls came from round the wicket and Buttler bent to slice them through the off-side field. Starc shifted to over the wicket but still kept the outside-off target; Buttler kept reaching out to slice and drive him for fours to cover-point and long-off. The bouncer, next ball, was pulled to the long-leg boundary and Buttler went to ground, suffering from cramps. A timeout was called, and he patted down the final ball.
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Jos Buttler in action. (Agencies)
A few more frenetic overs later, that included the fall of Rutherford on the penultimate ball of the 19th over, the game came down to the final over where 10 runs were needed against Starc. Rahul Tewatia, whose calling card is last-over finishes, walloped the first ball over cow corner, and glanced the next to the fine-leg boundary to be enveloped with a hug Buttler.
Though he didn’t stay till the end, it was Rutherford who turned the chase on the fifth ball of the 12th over with Gujarat on 101. Buttler had taken Vipraj Nigam for three sixes, but in general after the fall of the impressive Sudharsan, things had slowed down a bit. It was then that Rutherford, who had started slowly, walloped a Kuldeep Yadav delivery over long-off. Next over, the 13th of the innings, he unfurled two fey pull shots to pick successive sixes off the first two balls from Mohit Sharma. A 10-run over off Nigam followed before Buttler exploded in that Starc over. The first legal delivery of the 17th over from Mukesh Kumar was a free hit and Buttler cleared his front foot to smash the attempted slower one over midwicket for a maximum.
That Buttler and Rutherford could take it easy after the Powerplay, focusing on retaining wickets was due to Prasidh’s brilliance that had restricted Delhi Capitals to 203, a par total on this pitch.
Prasidh dazzles on flat track
Prasidh has been buzzing this IPL season with a wide range of skills. Against Mumbai Indians earlier, he had starred with a slew of cutters into the turf to take advantage of a two-paced black-soil pitch. Against Delhi Capitals on a hot Saturday afternoon, he seamed the ball both ways, largely hit back of a length, but also slipped in a beauty of an out-swinging yorker that knocked out KL Rahul.Story continues below this ad
If not for him, Delhi Capitals would well have got a much bigger total, such was the form Rahul and Karun Nair were in. He also took out the in-form Axar Patel.
In the fifth over with the score on 44, Prasidh went for the jugular with a really full ball that tailed away rather late. It seemed to be homing in on the leg and middle, and Rahul tried to adjust aiming to hit it to square-leg. But it curved away late, surprising Rahul who was pinned on the backfoot right in front. As he walked away, refusing to take the DRS, he gestured that the ball had swung into the stumps. It had. “That was the only option I had in my mind. As anything on length was disappearing. And so I went for the yorker,” Prasidh said about Rahul’s dismissal.
Now, Prasidh turned his attention to Nair. Like Rahul, he too had positioned himself back, focusing on getting his timing and placement right. Prasidh intervened in the ninth over to play killjoy. He had just seen a back-of-length kicker punched up and over to the cover boundary, when he got his next lifter quicker at just over 142kmph. He had also placed the third man rather fine. Nair did the sway well, but didn’t wield the bat with any violence, just tried to tap it up and over, using the pace, but with the fielder placed in the perfect position, he couldn’t clear him. Prasidh had a lovely smile as he stood looking at the crestfallen Nair.

Axar had held the innings together through the middle overs, reaching 39, and it was upto him to blast off in the final overs to push the total towards or beyond 225. Off the first ball of the 18th over, he charged out for the big heave, but Prasidh held his nerve and had the back-of-length delivery cutting away from the left-hander. That movement meant Axar could only nick it behind. The next ball, Prasidh followed Nigam, who tried to steer it past wicketkeeper Buttler, who dived to take an excellent catch.Story continues below this ad
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 203/8 in 20 overs (Axar Patel 39, Ashutosh Sharma 37; Prasidh Krishna 4/41) lost to Gujarat Titans 204/3 in 19.2 overs (Buttler 97 not out, Sherfane Rutherford 43, Sai Sudharsan 36) seven wickets