Ishant Sharma said practising wide yorkers paid off in the middle after he defended 12 runs off the last over to hand Delhi Capitals a morale-boosting win over the formidable Gujarat Giants in the IPL.

The narrow five-run win here on Tuesday kept Delhi alive in the tournament. They now have three victories from nine games and need to win their remaining five matches to make the playoffs.

Ishant, who was not used in the initial part of the tournament, is now Delhi’s most economical bowler and has taken six wickets in four games, conceding only 6.5 runs per over.

The 105-Test veteran was able to keep the dangerous Rahul Tewatia quiet in the 20th over with Titans skipper Hardik Pandya remaining unbeaten at the other end in a losing cause.

“We practise bowling with the new ball, but at the same time we do practise bowling wide yorkers, and today (Tuesday) the hard work paid off... I just backed myself and bowled wide yorkers.

“When you are preparing yourself in the nets we plan for certain batters as to what to bowl and it is all about executing it every single time, backing yourself and believing in yourself,” Ishant said after the game.

Asked about his mindset while bowling to Tewatia, who had smashed three sixes off Anrich Nortje in the previous over, Ishant said: “I played enough cricket with him (Tewatia), so was just having fun with him. I knew I had to double bluff him otherwise we know what he can do with the bat.

“We (bowlers) don’t think about the target, it is just about executing the plans. From hereon we hope to carry the momentum, keep going forward and hope for the best,” he added.

Earlier, Aman Hakim Khan came in at No. 7 and rescued his side with a 44-ball 51. His knock and couple of partnerships pushed Delhi to 130 for eight. PTI