AI Simulation, NDT vs NDS | Himmat Singh’s captaincy knock leads Tigers to six-wicket win against Strikers

Pitch and Weather

The surface at the Arun Jaitley Stadium was typically flat, especially in the second half of the game. It has been favourable for the chasing side in the tournament’s current edition. The dew factor also came into play as the game progressed.

The weather in Delhi was partly cloudy, with slight chances of rain; however, it didn’t interrupt the game. The temperature hovered around 31 degrees Celsius.

Toss

North Delhi Strikers won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Lineups

NDT XI: Shivam Gupta, Dhruv Kaushik, Himmat Singh (c), Parth Bali, Vaibhav Rawal, Deepak Punia, Keshav Dalal (w), Yashjeet, Ajay Rana, Prince Yadav, Pankaj Jaswal.

NDS XI: Vaibhav Kandpal, Yajas Sharma, Yash Dabas, Arnav Bugga, Pranav Rajuvanshi (w), Arjun Rapria, Deepanshu Gulia, Vikas Dixit, Harshit Rana (c), Siddhant Bansal, Kuldip Yadav.

Match Report

After opting to bat first, North Delhi Strikers lost their first wicket in Vaibhav Kandpal (11) early at the team score of 14 runs in just 2.4 overs. Yajas Sharma and Yash Dabas carried and took the strikers away from this early loss with a 38-run partnership for the second wicket. Sharma scored 28 runs off 22 balls before falling prey to Ajay Rana in the seventh over. Dabas continued hitting some useful boundaries and stitched another 26-run partnership for the third wicket with Arnav Bugga (17). Dabas scored 33 runs off 24 balls, with three fours and two sixes; he was caught by Vaibhav Rawal off Jaswal’s bowling. Bugga added another 25 runs for the fourth wicket with Pranav Rajuvanshi. After Bugga’s dismissal, Rajuvanshi took charge of power-hitting, and he smashed some impactful boundaries to score 42 (30), with four fours and two sixes. These contributions helped the Strikers post 162/8 in the allotted 20 overs. Jaswal ended up with brilliant figures of 3/26 in his four overs for the Tigers. Yashjeet and Ajay Rana also contributed with one and two wickets, respectively, to restrict the Strikers from a big total.

While chasing the target, the Tigers were off to a quick start of 31 runs in just 3.5 overs by the opening pair of Shivam Gupta and Dhruv Kaushik. This partnership was mainly led by Gupta’s 25 runs off 17 balls, with four fours and a six. Kaushik carried the charge and started punishing the Strikers’ bowling attack after Gupta’s dismissal. Kaushik stitched a game-turning partnership of 56 runs for the second wicket with Himmat Singh. This partnership came to an end when Harshit Rana dismissed Kaushik, who scored a quick 41 runs off just 28 balls, with five fours and a six. Himmat added some crucial runs with middle-order batters, including the crucial contributions of Vaibhav Rawal (19) and Deepak Punia (10*). It was the unbeaten 27-run partnership between Himmat and Punia that took the Tigers over the line to win the game, scoring 165/4 in 18.5 overs. Himmat ended up with an unbeaten knock of 56 runs off 37 balls, with six fours and two sixes. The Strikers’ bowling attack failed to contain the scoring rate, and only Harshit Rana, Vikas Dixit, and Kuldip Yadav could scalp a wicket each.

Player of the Match

New Delhi Tigers’ Himmat Singh won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his match-winning half-century (56 runs off 37 balls). His knock played a pivotal role in his side’s six-wicket win against the North Delhi Strikers.

Scorecard