Kuldeep Yadav jumped into the top five of the Purple Cap table with figures of 2/29 in Delhi Capitals' thrilling four-run win over the Gujarat Titans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday. Kuldeep's tally for the season has gone up to 12 which puts him level on wickets with CSK's Mustafizur Rahman and MI's Gerald Coetzee. He is placed above both players at fourth though due to his superior economy of 7.62. MI's Jasprit Bumrah continues to hold the Purple Cap while Yuzvendra Chahal of RR is second and PBKS's Harshal Patel is third. All three players are on 13 wickets.

Kuldeep came in to bowl after the powerplay after DC put up a total of 224/4. The two spinners put a break on the GT scoring rate after the visitors had scored 67 runs in the powerplay. He got the crucial wicket of Wriddhiman Saha in his second over. Kuldeep then dismissed the dangerous Rahul Tewatia for just four runs off his last ball of the match in the 16th over.

Kuldeep contributes to DC's thrilling win

Kuldeep's strikes turned out to be crucial as DC managed to keep GT within four runs of the mammoth target that they had set for the visitors. DC Skipper Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel forged a blistering stand of 113 runs off 68 balls en route to quickfire individual half-centuries to power DC to 224 for 4 in their must-win game. In reply, Sai Sudarshan (65 off 29 ) and David Miller (55 off 23) scored fifties, while Rashid Khan hit a 11-ball 21 not out but still couldn't take GT over the line, finishing at 220 for 8 in their 20 overs.

Pant led from the front, remaining unbeaten on 88 off 43 balls (5X4s, 8X6s), his innings proving to be a timely reminder to the national selectors, who are likely to pick him in India's first XI against Pakistan in the World T20 match in New York, barring fitness issues. Pant's maturity showed as he paced his innings brilliantly in company of Axar, who made 66 off 43 balls after being promoted to the third spot. His innings was studded with five fours and four sixes. Pant started slowly but gained in confidence as time progressed and unleashed his trademark pick up shots of his legs, cuts and pulls to score his runs. He brought up his fifty with a hit over the long-on fence off Mohit Sharma. Pant then unleashed havoc on Mohit in the last over, hitting the veteran bowler for four sixes and one four to pick up 31 runs.

Read Also: rishabh pant's big-hitting exhibition helps dc beat gt in ipl 2024