Skipper David Warner’s  cautious  37 and Axar Patel’s belligerent 36 helped Delhi Capitals post  competitive 162 for eight  against defending champion Gujarat Titans  In their second Tata IPL League fixture at Arun Jaitely Stadium here on Tuesday evening.

Titans had match well under control till the  15^th over with Delhi Capitals  were struggling at 126 for five but in the last five over thanks to Axar Patel who   hit 36 off 22 balls  which included three sixes and two boundaries, the hosts took their total to past 160.

Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to field. The defending champions included David Miller, who arrived here yesterday in their playing eleven in place of injured Ken Williamson and Sai Sudharsan dropping Vijay Shankar.

Delhi Capitals also bolstered their pace attack by including South African Anrich Nortje Wicket Keeper Abishek Porel  made his debut for the hosts along with  Aman Khan.They replaced two left-arm seamers Khaleel Ahmed and Chetan Sakariya     .

  The hosts made an aggressive start as the opening pair of David Warner and Prithvi Shaw put up 29 runs in 2,4 overs before Mohd Shammi struck. The veteran pacer removed Shaw (7, 5b ,1×4)as the opener trying for a big  hit miscued he shot an was caught by Alzaari Joseph.

 Eight runs and ten balls later Shami struck again when he clean bowled Mitchel Marsh (4) and Delhi Capitals were reduced to 37 for 2.  At that stage Shami figures read 3-0-29-2.

Delhi batters  looked tentative and bit uneasy against Titans pace Machinery on a track which had a bit of Seam movement, uneven bounce, inconsistent pace..

Still Delhi did well in power play scoring 50 for 2 .  David Warner after initial hesitation   looked like settling down before  young West Indian fast bowler  Alzarri Joseph struck.he clean bowled the opener (37,32 b,7×4)  and in the process also rened the 30 run third wicket partnership.  Joseph  struck again off the next balkl when he had  Rilee Rossouw caught by Rahul Tewatia  and had Delhi reeling at  67 for 4  in 8.3 overs

Abishekh Porel and Sarfaraz added 34 runs  but spinner Rashid Khan who  came into attack in the 13^th iover struck  of his second ball when he clean bowled Porel 920.11 b,2×6)

 It was left to Axar patel to come to the rescue of his side once again and he  did it  by belting three huge sixes in his 22 ball stay to take the score  well past 160

For Titans Shami and Rashid Khan took three wickets each  conceding 41 and 31 runs respectively. Joseph claimed otherb two wickets  giving away 29 runs.