In Gujarat Titans’ title-winning 2022 season, the Hardik Pandya-led side was nearly faultless in run chases. They have made a similar start to the 2023 IPL season, making it two wins out of two after choosing to chase on both occasions. At the Ferozeshah Kotla ground on Tuesday, they gunned down a target of 163 against Delhi Capitals with six wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare. Sai Sudharsan made an unbeaten 62 while David Miller provided the finishing flourish as expected.

While the Titans chase began with Wriddhiman Saha hitting 14 runs in the first over and Shubman Gill scoring two boundaries through the off-side in the second, Anrich Nortje’s introduction brought smiles to the faces of the Delhi players. He dismissed Saha and Gill in successive overs in identical fashion, the ball hitting the batter’s pad before clattering the stumps.

Titans lost their third wicket when Khaleel Ahmed, who came in as Impact Player for Sarfaraz Khan after the Delhi innings, dismissed Pandya caught behind in the sixth over. Bowling from around the wicket, Khaleel’s length ball held its line just enough to induce Pandya’s outside edge. Titans were 54/3 after six overs.

With the run rate not being an issue for the visitors at that stage though, Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar (in for Joshua Little after the first innings) simply needed to stitch together a partnership. The duo from Tamil Nadu added 53 runs for the fourth wicket in 44 balls.

By the time Shankar was dismissed on 29 (23b, 3×4) in the 14th over, Titans required 56 off 40 balls. Sudharsan had shown daredevilry early in his innings, moving over to the off-side to scoop a full delivery by Nortje for a six over fine-leg. But as the innings progressed, he slowed down and struggled to find the boundary.

It didn’t matter though as Miller was at his marauding best, relieving the pressure with two sixes and a four in a 20-run over by Mukesh Kumar. It brought the equation down to 26 off the last four overs. From thereon, it was a cruise for the defending champions.

Delhi have work to do on the batting front after they were restricted to 162/8. While David Warner (37, 32b, 7×4) and Axar Patel (36, 22b, 2×4, 3×6) played well, the hosts need the likes of Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz to step up. For Titans, Mohammed Shami (3/41), Alzarri Joseph (2/29) and Rashid Khan (3/31) were the chief wicket-takers.

Shaw was the first to be dismissed in the Delhi innings, getting caught at mid-on while attempting a pull against Shami. The India pacer dismissed Mitchell Marsh in his next over. Assisted by some help from the surface, he got one to move away a tad from the Australian, whose loose cut resulted in an inside edge onto the stumps. While Shami was a bit erratic with his line in his opening spell – he conceded 29 runs off his first three overs – he was in business whenever he made the Delhi batters play.

Warner did a bulk of the scoring early on as Delhi reached 52/2 at the end of the powerplay. The left-handed opener was notably quick to capitalise on any width outside off-stump. He hit Joseph for two boundaries in the seventh over of the innings – the pacer’s first – but the West Indian had his revenge in his next over when Warner chopped a length ball onto his stumps. There was enough width for Warner to play the shot, but an angled bat brought about his downfall.

Joseph instantly made it two in two, welcoming South African Rilee Rossouw with a brute of a bouncer that the South African left-hander awkwardly fended. The ball just about carried to a diving Rahul Tewatia at backward point.

At 70/4 after nine overs, Delhi were in trouble. Unexpectedly, debutant Abishek Porel chipped in with a cameo of 20 off 11 balls in a 34-run partnership with Sarfaraz for the fifth wicket. Porel, a left-handed batter from Bengal brought in for his wicketkeeping, set the pulses of the Delhi crowd racing when he upper cut Joseph towards the third man region. Yash Dayal, stationed at the boundary, managed to take the catch but couldn’t stay inside the boundary line. To rub salt into Dayal’s wounds, Porel then pulled the left-arm pacer for a six over deep midwicket.

It took Rashid’s arrival in the 13th over for Porel’s promising debut with the bat to come to a halt. The youngster was bowled after playing across the line to a full delivery by the star leg-spinner, a grave error against a bowler of Rashid’s calibre.

While Sarfaraz looked out of touch during a 34-ball 30, Axar’s late flourish ensured a total that looked out of reach when they lost four wickets within the first ten overs.