Navi Mumbai: Delhi Capitals lost their way after a sizzling knock from Prithvi Shaw to end at 149 for 3 in their Indian Premier League match against Lucknow Super Giants here Thursday.
Shaw’s 61 off 34 balls was all class before Lucknow Super Giants bounced back in the game with an impressive bowling performance. Young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (2/22) was the standout performer for the new IPL entrants.
David Warner (4 off 12), returning to the franchise where he made his IPL debut back in 2009, struggled in his first innings of the season.
The southpaw was a mere spectator at the other end, witnessing Shaw’s brutal assault on the opposition.
Off-spinner K Gowtham (1/23) was given the ball in the second over and Shaw did not let him settle, dispatching a full ball over cover for his first four of the innings.
Jason Holder was at the receiving end in the following over when Shaw pulled him for a six over mid-wicket. Then came the turn of pacer Avesh Khan who was hammered for three consecutive fours in the fourth over.
It seemed Shaw was batting on a different surface while the others struggled around him. He used his quick hands to cut the ball and was equally quick to drive anything full over cover.
It was a promising powerplay for Capitals who reached 52 for no loss in six overs. However, Lucknow fought back after the powerplay with wickets of Shaw, Warner and Rovman Powell (3 off 10) in a space of 18 balls.
Shaw was caught behind off Gowtham after he hit him for a straight six. Warner fell to a poor shot off Bishnoi and Powell saw his stumps disturbed as he went for the slog-sweep off a googly from the young leg-spinner, leaving Capitals at 74 for three in the 11th over.
The onus was on skipper Rishabh Pant (39 not out off 36) to take the team to a respectable total and he did that in the company of Sarfaraz Khan (36 not out off 28) who was playing his debut game for the franchise.
Pant mainly targeted the straight boundaries and Sarfaraz, without taking much risks, showed skills that has fetched him a bagful of runs in domestic cricket.
Capitals could not finish strong enough as LSG did well to concede only 13 runs in the last 12 balls.
PTI
