Pant, Samson decimate Gujarat with massive stand

A 143-run stand for the second wicket, between Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson, helped Delhi gun down a massive 209-run target to end Gujarat's campaign in the Indian Twenty20 competition, comfortably beating them by seven wickets at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Thursday.

Only once had a team chased more than 209 to win a match in the tournament and it took the youngest Delhi pair to pull of the feat with 15 balls to spare. Gujarat's batsmen flourished on a evenly-paced surface after being put in. Their middle order, comprising of Suresh Raina, Aaron Finch and Dinesh Karthik, gave them to a sizable total. Delhi with just three wins off nine matches before Thursday's encounter, needed to score over 10 from the onset. The hosts stuttered at the start and lost captain Karun Nair in the third over. Samson and Pant then took charge in their pursuit of a mammoth total.

Pant announced his arrival with a six on the up over cover in the fourth over against Basil Thampi, Samson hit another in the same over. Pradeep Sangwan was then clubbed, by Pant, for 16 off the first three balls in the next over. The early onslaught helped Delhi breach 50 inside the fifth over. The duo thumped 90 runs off the next six overs. Samson eventually fell in the 14th over, for a 31-ball 61, after smashing seven sixes. Pant responded with a six and a four to bring the asking rate below run-a-ball, before he fell three runs shy of becoming the tournaments youngest centurion. He had smashed nine sixes and six fours in his match-winning knock.