Shikhar Dhawan carried his bat to remain unbeaten on a 47-ball 69 to help Delhi Capitals beat Punjab Kings by 7 wickets in Sunday’s evening fixture.
The win takes Delhi to the top of the IPL standings with 12 points from 8 matches while Punjab are sixth with six points from eight matches.
Earlier, Mayank Agarwal remained unbeaten on 99 off 58 balls on his debut as Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain and led his team to 166/6 in 20 overs.
Delhi chased down the target in 17.4 overs.
Mayank Named Punjab Captain
Dropped for the previous game, playing in place of KL Rahul and also made captain of the side today, Mayank Agarwal stepped up on all fronts as the Punjab Kings opener remained unbeaten on 99 to lead the team to 166/6 vs Delhi Capitals in Sunday’s evening fixture.
Mayank opened with Prabhsimran Singh in the game but the two could add only 17 off the first 21 deliveries before the wicket-keeper lost his wicket to Kagiso Rabada on a 16-ball 12.
Chris Gayle was the next man in and while he smashed a four and a six during his stint, the West Indian could not add much to the team’s tally as he was castled by Rabada on a 9-ball 13. Punjab were reduced to 35/2 after 5.2 overs.
Next in was IPL debutant Dawid Malan, the world’s number one batter in T20I cricket, and he helped stabalise the Punjab innings after the early wickets, adding 52 off 47 with Mayank. He was batting on a 26-ball 26 when he became Axar Patel’s first wicket of the match, also ending Punjab’s best partnership of the innings.
Deepak Hooda’s stint in the middle lasted all of 1 ball before a big mix-up between him and Mayank saw both running towards the same end. In the end, it was Hooda who was sent back to the dressing room.
Mayank was at 37 off 32 with 6 overs of the match left and while no partner of his that followed scored more than 4 runs, the opener switched gears with ease and hit fours and sixes at regular intervals to ensure the run rate stayed up.
He hit two fours and a six off the last three balls of the innings and and put up a 41-run stand for the fifth wicket with Shahrukh Khan (4) to help Punjab post 166/6. He remained unbeaten on 99.
Dhawan Top Scores in Clinical Chase
Delhi Capitals’ chased down the target of 167 runs with 14 balls to spare, as Dhawan anchored the chase and put up partnerships with Prithvi Shaw, Steve Smith, captain Rishabh Pant, and Shimron Hetmyer.
Shaw (39) and Dhawan put up an opening stand of 63 runs that ended when the former fell to Harpreet Brar off the first ball of the seventh over. Smith (24) then played an almost chanceless innings and put up 48 for the second wicket with Dhawan, who then took the attack to the bowlers in a 36-run stand with Pant (14).
Pant fell to Chris Jordan in the 17th over, and the chase was completed in the 18th in which Hetmyer hit Riley Meredith for two sixes and a four. DC were left with two runs to win, and they got those after Meredith bowled consecutive two wides.
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