Rishabh Pant’s return to cricket after 453 runs was marred by a loss, as Delhi Capitals were handed a four-wicket defeat by Punjab Kings, in what was the maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) match played in Mullanpur’s Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium. Chasing a target of 175 runs, Punjab Kings crossed the finish line in 19.2 overs.
With the track being conducive to the batters, Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow’s partnership got Punjab off to a flying start, with the first three overs yielding 34 runs.
The first breakthrough for Delhi was provided by Ishant Sharma in the fourth over when he ran through Dhawan’s shot, whilst in that same over, Bairstow lost his wicket to a run out.
However, the two quick wickets were followed by a 42-run third-wicket stand between Prabhsimran Singh and Sam Curran, which took the game away from Delhi. The former scored 26 runs off 17 deliveries before becoming Kuldeep Yadav’s victim, whilst newly-appointed vice-captain Jitesh Sharma’s dismissal only a couple of overs later brought Delhi back into the hunt.
The all-English pair of Curran and Liam Livingstone weathered the storm with expert guile, building a 67-run partnership to all but secure a victory for Punjab. Khaleel Ahmed did offer a very late twist by dismissing Curran and Shashank Singh in consecutive deliveries, whilst a better fielding effort from David Warner would have got Khaleel Harpreet Brar’s wicket as well. However, the penultimate over hysteria did not help Delhi evade the defeat.
Curran, Punjab most efficacious batter, scored 63 runs off 47 deliveries, recording his highest score in this competition. Playing the supporting act, Liam Livingstone remained unbeaten on a 21-ball 38.
Porel's Cameo Got Delhi to a Competitive Total
Earlier, impact player Abishek Porel played a lovely cameo right at the end of the innings to help Delhi Capitals post a competitive 174/9. It was an innings in which all of DC’s batters got set, but none could make a big total. Porel’s cameo of 32 not out off 10 balls, including 25 runs off the last over, helped DC go from 149/8 to cross the 170-run mark. Porel pulled, heaved, slogged, ramped, and flicked to hit three fours and two sixes in the final over to give DC’s bowlers something to defend.
Pushed into batting first on a solid black soil pitch, Mitchell Marsh picked back-to-back clipped fours off Sam Curran. From the other end, David Warner feasted on short balls from Arshdeep Singh by smashing a six and four off him.
Marsh welcomed Kagiso Rabada with a pulled six over deep square leg. In the next over, he smashed a straight bat loft off Arshdeep over long-off. But on the very next ball, Marsh fell after driving straight to Rahul Chahar at cover-point, who took a sharp catch.
Warner continued to be DC’s aggressor by slapping and scooping Rabada for four and six respectively. He also played a drive off Harshal Patel for another boundary. Shai Hope smacked Rahul Chahar over long-off for six and was helped by a misfield to get a four.
But Harshal struck by getting Warner’s edge off a slower bouncer and Jitesh Sharma dived forward to take the catch, with PBKS getting the decision. Hope slog-swept off Chahar for four and pulled Rabada over long-on for six, before mistiming a drive to cover off the pacer.
The moment for which everyone waited came after Warner’s fall when Rishabh Pant got big applause from a decent crowd while coming out to bat in his comeback competitive cricket game. The left-handed batter took his time, like not taking twos twice in his first six deliveries, before pulling off Chahar to Patel at mid-wicket, who dropped the catch to give him a boundary.
Pant wowed the crowd by piercing the gap between mid-off and cover on a half-volley from Patel. But the pacer bounced back with a slower ball angled into the body, which the batter tried to ramp over the keeper, but ended up lobbing the catch to a backward point, falling for a 13-ball 18.
From there, DC’s innings had a free-fall as Ricky Bhui went for a tickle down leg off Harpreet Brar, but replays showed a spike while going into Jitesh’s gloves and PBKS got the decision in their favour via review.
Tristan Stubbs holed out to long-on, who ran to his left and completed a good diving catch. Axar Patel hit a couple of boundaries, before being run out by a throw from a substitute fielder at deep square leg while going for a second run. Sumit Kumar shaped for a drive, but nicked behind to Jitesh off Arshdeep, before Porel’s onslaught took DC to a fighting total.
(With inputs from IANS)
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