“Unbelievable, it actually reminded me a little bit of the 438 game against Australia when Makhaya [Ntini] got that important single towards the end,” du Plessis said. “That’s probably the best and most important single that Mohit Sharma has ever taken in his life – beautiful forward defence, just pushing it into the gap. What a story to get the big man back on strike to hit it for six.”

Ashutosh walked in as DC’s Impact Player with the score 65 for 5 in the seventh over. After the 13th over of the chase, DC were 116 for 6, needing 94 runs off 42 balls with four wickets in hand. ESPNcricinfo’s win predictor gave them a 1.56% of winning.

“A lot of the cricketers, if you ask them, they would complain about the [Impact Player] rule in the IPL,” du Plessis said, “but this is obviously why that rule is there – for games when you think that you’re completely dead and buried, someone comes in and plays like that. I’m definitely going to drink some more masala tea to make sure I can hit the ball like the boys do at the end.

“To be honest, when I looked at the wicket and saw how much the ball was gripping and losing five wickets, I thought it was going to be an almost impossible task. But it’s even great for the old brain of mine just to make sure that you can never be out of a game completely. The extra batter really makes a big difference.”

Ashutosh got together with Vipraj Nigam when DC needed 97 off 45 balls. Their 55-run stand off just 22 balls brought DC’s equation down to 42 off 24 before Nigam fell for 39 off 15. Ashutosh was unbeaten on 66 off 31.

“As an overseas player, one thing that’s remarkable for me to watch is the amount of Indian players that are so powerful and they got the ability to just strike the ball so easily,” du Plessis said. “It wasn’t an easy pitch. There was a lot going on, but the two boys at the back end there, just the way they came in and just effortless hitting boundaries.”