IPL 2023, GT vs DC | Who said what ft. Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami

Mohammed Shami’s exceptional bowling with the new ball, which rewarded him with figures of 4-0-11-4, went in vain for Gujarat Titans as they endured a heartbreaking five-run defeat against a spirited Delhi Capitals side in Match 44 of IPL 2023 at Narendra Modi Stadium. Shami’s magnificent performance, ably supported by the Rashid Khan-led attack, left Delhi reeling at 23/5 at one point before Aman Hakim Khan’s 44-ball 51 and Axar Patel’s 30-ball 27 saved the day. Ripal Patel joined the party later, scoring 23 off just 13 balls to take his side to a respectable total of 130/8.

Obviously, we would have taken 129 on any given day. Those last couple of wickets and at the end, Rahul got us back in the game. I tried my best but could not capitalize. It boils down to me. We were hoping to get a couple of big overs in the middle but at that point in time, we could not get rhythm. It was new for Abhinav as well. It boils down to how I was not able to finish the game. Full marks to their bowlers as well and full ownership of my side when I could not finish the game. I should've. We could not get the rhythm in the middle. Rahul brought us back into the game. Otherwise, they were quite ahead. The intent had to be there. It's just that we lost a couple of wickets where if you keep losing wickets, it's difficult to keep the intent as well. I think it's just that this game I think we lost because I could not get my rhythm and we kept losing wickets at the start and that put us under pressure. We like to take it deep and get a couple of big overs which we could not get. 

Hardik Pandya

I feel sorry for him (Shami). If you bowl like that, then you get the team on 129, I think batters disappointed. I don't think the ball did a lot. I think it's just that Mohammed Shami's skill set which he has and he made the ball talk. Otherwise, I think for fast bowlers, the wicket did not have much assistance. But the way he bowled four on the trot and got us in the game, full credit. As I said, batters and particularly myself did not finish and we disappointed him. It's still a lot of games left. We'll take all the learnings from this game and rectify it a little better and move on. We have won a lot of games from the same position. We are still at the top of the table but we need to keep playing good cricket. Today, we did not finish the game.

Hardik Pandya

Warner, the DC skipper, lauded both Shami and Ishant for shining in Ahmedabad and also credited Ripal and Aman for rescuing them from a humiliating total.

The man with the golden arm, Ishant revealed what was going in his mind when he faced Tewatia during the final over, and how he managed to have the last laugh.

Even in the nets when I bowl with the new ball, I was practicing bowling wide yorkers. Today, I think the hard work pays off. I just backed myself and bowled wide yorkers. Coaches do that. There's a lot of time we spend in preparation, planning for certain batsmen which balls to bowl to them. It's all about backing yourself. I don't think about how many people are watching. It's all about executing those single balls every single time when you are on the field. So I was just backing myself to bowl these wide yorkers. (On facing Tewatia) I've played enough cricket with him so I was just having fun with him. I knew he was going to know what my short ball is, so I knew I had to double-bluff him. Otherwise, I knew he was the type of batsman who can finish the game for Gujarat. So I was double bluffing him and bowling the balls.

Ishant Sharma

I just try to stick to my plans. Stick to the areas, the line, and the length that we discussed. This wasn't a score that was above par, there was not too much swing. I felt we should have chased this. The mistake was losing wickets at regular intervals, we needed partnerships and they came too late for us. However, plenty of games left. Such things happen.

Mohammed Shami