IPL 2025: Who Said What in Gujarat Titans vs. Delhi Capitals, Match 35?

On Saturday, April 19, the Gujarat Titans (GT) and Delhi Capitals (DC) squared off in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL) caravan.

The game was played at Ahmedabad’s famous Narendra Modi Stadium, which is noteworthy.

The home team’s captain, Shubman Gill, won the toss and chose to score runs against the Axar Patel-led team on the batting-friendly pitch that was available. It’s interesting that DC started the innings with Abishek Porel and Karun Nair, deviating from their typical batting order. The former played some lovely strokes to show off his batting ability, but he was hit by a full toss. KL Rahul then came to the crease and began scoring goals with vigour.

However, Prasidh Krishna’s yorker to trap him LBW (Leg Before Wicket) in front of the wickets ended his innings. Despite having a strong start, none of the Delhi batters were able to score more than 40 runs. They consequently lost their scoring momentum in the game’s middle phases.

Talking Points

1. Krishna excels for Gujarat

Prasidh Krishna, a pacer for the Gujarat Titans, won the coveted Purple Cap after dominating with the ball. Despite being somewhat pricey, Krishna produced a remarkable stint, taking four wickets (4/41). GT deployed five bowlers until the 19th over of the innings. Among other outstanding bowling efforts, the hosts made significant progress thanks to Mohammed Siraj and Arshad Khan. Rashid Khan, a leg-spinner, skilfully varied his pace variations even though he missed a catch.

2. In the final stages, lower order tries score more quickly.

Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs put out a solid 53-run connection, but they lacked quickness. Axar collapsed while attempting to increase the tempo in the final overs because he was unable to locate boundaries. Two sixes off Prasidh were among the late pyrotechnics contributed by Ashutosh Sharma. However, GT’s bowlers closed out effectively, as DC failed to reach a commanding total.

Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs shared a crucial 53-run partnership. But when it counted most, they had trouble setting boundaries at regular intervals. Ultimately, Ashutosh Sharma delivered the last flourish by hitting two sixes off of Krishna. DC somehow passed the 200-run threshold despite failing to score a significant amount in the latter phases, which might have resulted in a total of about 220 runs.

3. Nair’s excellent fielding, Gill leaving early

Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill (7 runs off 5 balls) got off to a strong start as they chased a target of 204 runs. However, Gill’s knock was stopped by Karun Nair’s excellent fielding in the second over, leaving him short of the crease. However, this didn’t deter Sudharsan, who continued to show off his amazing stroke-making skills until Kuldeep Yadav removed him in the eighth over, with GT at 74/1.

Jos Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford then set to work on the reconstruction. Buttler demonstrated his experience by rotating the strike regularly and batting sensibly.

4. Buttler and Rutherford’s collaboration of 119 runs

Sherfane Rutherford made the decision to switch tactics after the eleventh over and began with striking a six off Kuldeep Yadav’s ball. While Buttler continued to support the partnership with beautiful fours and strike rotation, he took bowler Mohit Sharma to the cleaners in the very next over. Jos Buttler joined the celebration in the fifteenth over, smashing Mitchell Starc, the star of the final IPL 2025 encounter, for five straight boundaries to help Delhi surpass the 150-run milestone.

5. Buttler’s knock that won the game

Jos Buttler displayed class with some amazing hitting while Rutherford displayed some fireworks. Even so, he nearly got out in Starc’s over because the fielder misjudged the ball and dropped the catch. Consequently, the English batsman-wicketkeeper stayed undefeated at 97* runs off 54 balls and kept playing attacking cricket.

Everyone was expecting Buttler to score a well-earned century, but that didn’t work out when Rutherford was removed by Mukesh Kumar in the 17th over. Mitchell Starc was hit for a six by Rahul Tewatia, who scored 11* runs off three balls. Starc, who is renowned for his amazing clutch bowling, nearly hit a yorker in the final ball of Gujarat’s innings, but it went down the leg side to the boundary, giving the Delhi Capitals the victory.

Who Said What?

Shubman Gill, GT (Winning captain) said,

[Critical moments] The way we pulled the game back… at one point it looked like their total would be 220-230 but credit to the bowlers for pulling it back. Even in the first game, chasing around 245 we were right in the game and lost by around 10 runs. We’ve been chasing well. [On Sai Kishore] I think they were ahead in the game and I didn’t want them to get too ahead in the game and with Axar batting there till almost the end, and the fast bowlers being tough to hit, so just wanted to continue with that. Magnificent the way Sherfane and Buttler rotated the strike and those hits were tremendous. Their partnership wasn’t just brutal hitting, it was very calculated batting. The way they rotated strike and picked their bowlers was excellent.

Axar Patel, DC (Losing captain) said,

I think we were 10-15 runs short. I think that made the difference. When we wanted to accelerate, we kept losing set batters and we lost momentum and we couldn’t finish how we wanted. Even if we got a couple more hits away in the last over we could have restricted them. We bowled well, but if we were a little better with our catching and fielding it would have been good, but we were short with our target. There is not too much to think about. We just need to learn what more we could have done and not make the same mistakes next time.

Jos Buttler, Player of the Match said,

Really pleased with the two points and winning the game. It was a beautiful wicket to bat on. Just wanted to bat deep and pick my moments to attack. [On the challenge of the heat] I think it takes you by the surprise how draining it is. I certainly felt that while batting, cramping up and stuff. But that’s part of the game to be fit and be able to perform under pressure in the heat. [On catching] I’ve kept poorly in the first six games and I’ve been determined to do better. It’s an area we all could improve. [His partnership with Rutherford] I’ve enjoyed batting with him this season. He can hit sixes out of nowhere. His two sixes off Mohit Sharma changed the game. [On missing his century] You want to win the game. It would have been nice, I had my chances, but the two points are nice. Rahul in lots of games comes on with few balls to face and can find the fence straight away so he’s really cool under pressure.