Punjab Kings needed a win against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday night in Dharamsala to move up the IPL 2023 points table and lead the race for the fourth spot in the playoffs, but Shikhar Dhawan's team instead were handed a 15 run loss by the already eliminated Delhi franchise.
Riley Rossouw's blistering knock of unbeaten 82 off 37 and Prithvi Shaw fine fifty (54 off 38) followed by a collective bowling effort led Delhi to a thrilling 15-run win over Punjab.
The win means Delhi move up one spot in the points table after picking up their fifth win of the season. Warner's side was ruled out of the running for the playoffs on last Saturday, incidentally, after their loss at home to Punjab Kings.
Punjab now are eighth in the standings after 13 matches, with just the one match against Rajasthan Royals left in the league stage. Coming into the game, they were in a strong position, with two games in hand, that gave them the possibility of finishing the league stage at 16 points. However, after the loss to Delhi on Wednesday, Punjab can now finish with a maximum of 14 points which may not be enough as a few other teams are expected to finish at the same mark.
In the end it may come down to net run rate and Punjab’s is in the negative due to some big defeats this season. So the team not only much win their match against RR, but they need to win it by a big margin and hope other teams don’t finish on 14 points at the end of the league stage on Sunday.
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