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All-rounder Axar Patel has become only the fourth Delhi Capitals (DC) player to score a fifty-plus score, take atleast a wicket and a catch in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match.
Axar accomplished this feat during his side's IPL game against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Wednesday. Coming to the crease with the team at 35/1, Axar launched a brilliant counter-attack by scoring 66 in 43 balls, with five fours and four sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of over 153. Axar shared a valuable partnership of 113 runs with skipper Rishabh Pant. Later during the GT's run-chase of 225 runs, Azmatullah Omarzai was dismissed by Axar. The all-rounder also took impressive catches to remove the top-order trio of Wriddhiman Saha, GT skipper Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan. Other than Axar Patel, JP Duminy, Paul Collingwood and Virender Sehwag have accomplished this feat for Delhi Capitals in the IPL. Sehwag was the first one to do so for his franchise against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2008, scoring 71 runs, taking a wicket and catch. Paul Collingwood took a wicket and a catch and scored 53 runs for Delhi against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) back in 2010. Before Axar, JP Duminy was the last player for DC to accomplish this feat, scoring 54 runs, taking four wickets and two catches against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in 2015. Coming to the game, Gujarat won the toss and opted to bowl first. After a swift start from openers Jake Fraser McGurk (23 in 14 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Prithvi Shaw (11 in seven balls, with two fours), DC was restricted to 44/3. Then, Axar Patel (66 in 43 balls, with five fours and four sixes) and Rishabh Pant launched a counterattack on GT. In the death overs, Pant joined forces with Tristan Stubbs (26* in seven balls, with three fours and two sixes) to destroy GT's death bowling. Pant finished at 88* in 43 balls, with five fours and eight sixes. DC was 224/4 in their 20 overs. Sandeep Warrier (3/15) was the pick of the bowlers for GT. In the run-chase, GT lost skipper Shubman Gill early. A counter-attacking was once again in works as Wriddhiman Saha (39 in 25 balls, with five fours and a six) and Sai Sudarshan (65 in 39 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) had an 82-run partnership. In the later stages, David Miller (55 in 23 balls, with six fours and three sixes), Sai Kishore (13 in six balls with two sixes) and Rashid Khan (21* in 11 balls, with three fours and a six) put pressure on DC bowlers, but the hosts held their nerves to win the game by four runs, restricting GT to 220/8 in their 20 overs. Rasikh Salam (3/44) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/29) were among the top bowlers for DC. Pant took home the 'Player of the Match' award. DC is at the sixth spot in the points table, with four wins, five losses and eight points. On the other hand, GT is in the seventh spot with the same win-loss and points, but an inferior net run rate. (ANI)
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