IPL | Prasidh shines with a four-for as GT pacers restrict DC to 203/8

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Titans bowlers led by impressive pacer Prasidh Krishna produced a disciplined effort to keep Delhi Capitals to a tad underwhelming 203 for eight on a smooth pitch in their IPL match here on Saturday.

At several points, the Delhi side threatened to break away and post a far bigger total once they were asked to bat first but the home side bowlers found a way to strike back at every juncture.

It started from the top-order itself. Abhishek Porel (23) started, hammering pacer Mohammed Siraj for 16 runs in the first over.

The barrage included two fours and a six and he looked set for a bigger score. But perished in the next over to Arshad Khan, clubbing his over-pitched delivery straight to Siraj at mid-on.

KL Rahul (28, 14b) and Karun Nair (31, 18b) added 35 runs for the second wicket and played some delectable shots.

Rahul's six over long-on off Siraj and Karun's pick-up flick for a six off Arshad were simply wonderful.

But Prasidh (4/41) trapped his Karnataka teammate with a searing yorker that pinged his back foot to break the promising alliance.

Karun tried to ramp Prasidh but Arshad took an easy catch at wide third man as DC slipped to 93 for three despite consuming only nine overs.

The visitors then weaved another good stand of 53 runs through Tristan Stubbs (31) and Axar Patel (39) for the fifth wicket.

Stubbs's cover drives off Prasidh that raced to the fence was a testimony of his grace and power.

Just as the South African, who was dropped on 30 by Rashid Khan off his own bowling, was gaining in confidence, he chose to play a reverse paddle off Siraj only to be caught by Prasidh at short third man.

The Karnataka pacer returned to get rid of Axar as he continued to dig the ball into the pitch to get some bounce and grip to keep the batters guessing.

Ashutosh Sharma (37, 19b) played some beefy shots to the end but they were not enough to compensate for the top-order batters’ failure to bat longer.