On Monday, Delhi Capitals improved their playoff aspirations by defeating Punjab Kings by 17 runs at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai in an IPL 2022 encounter.
With this victory, Rishabh Pant’s DC has moved to fourth place in the Indian Premier League 2022 standings with 14 points.
In the fifth position, Royal Challengers Bangalore has 14 points as well, but their negative Net Run Rate (NRR) has cost them dearly.
Delhi spinners limited Punjab to 142/9 in their pursuit of 160 runs, with Shardul Thakur taking four wickets and Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav each taking two.
READ MORE: IPL 2022: Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone Lead PBKS to a 54-run victory against RCB
Mitchell Marsh’s blazing 63 helped Delhi Capitals to a modest 159/7 earlier. Punjab Kings’ Arshdeep Singh and Liam Livingstone each took three wickets.
Punjab openers Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan got off to a fantastic start, scoring 27/0 after three overs while chasing 160. In the fourth over, Anrich Nortje drew the first blood for Delhi by dismissing dangerous-looking opener Bairstow (28) for 28 runs. The Englishman pulled but failed to gain height, and Axar Patel was discovered at the deep square leg.
Shradul Thakur struck twice in the penultimate over of the powerplay to remove Bhanuka Rajapaksa and opener Shikhar Dhawan from the PBKS top-order (19). After the first six overs, Punjab’s total was 54/3.
Axar Patel added to Punjab’s woes in the seventh over by dismissing captain Mayank Agarwal. Mayank attempted a late cut but could not get the bat on the ball, causing the stumps to rattle.
In the following over, Kuldeep Yadav joined the wicket-taking party, removing Liam Livingstone, before striking again in the 10th over. He rocked Harpreet Brar’s stumps for his second wicket of the game.
The 14th over brought further success for DC, as Axar, uprooted Rishi Dhawan’s stumps. Jitesh Sharma was soon joined on the wicket by Rahul Chahar, and the pair began scoring runs for Punjab.
Before Shradul removed Jitesh for 44 in the 18th over, the duo stitched a 41-run partnership off 30 balls. After being struck for a six by the West Indian, Shradul claimed the wicket of Kagiso Rabada in the same over.
The match was decided in the last two overs, with Delhi winning 17 runs.
When Delhi Capitals were sent in to bat first, they got off to a poor start when PBKS’ Liam Livingstone struck in the opening ball of the game, dismissing David Warner for a golden duck.
Warner’s wicket sent fellow Australian Mitchell Marsh to the crease, and in the second over of the innings, he smacked Kagiso Rabada for 15 runs.
Marsh and Sarfaraz Khan were on fire, hammering PBKS bowlers all over the field. However, they didn’t last long as Arshdeep Singh dismissed the well-set opener for 32 runs, leaving Delhi at 51-2.
Lalit Yadav was brought to the crease to join hands with Marsh due to this. The pair smashed Punjab bowlers, helping their side to a respectable 98-run total with just two wickets lost.
As his hit went for the catch, Yadav succumbed to Arshdeep’s slow bouncer in the 11th over of the innings.
Rishabh Pant, the captain of the Delhi Capitals, next came to bat alongside Marsh but was quickly dismissed by Jitesh Sharma.
Livingstone dismissed Rovman Powell for two runs after attempting to steady the DC innings. At this point, DC seemed to be in a good place, but Marsh continued accumulating runs on one end while pacing his innings with careful stroke play.
In 40 balls, he reached his half-century. In the 18th over of the contest, the Australian all-rounder hit three fours against Arshdeep Singh.
Marsh and Axar Patel’s relationship finally blossomed, although scoring was delayed. Rabada dismissed Mitchell Marsh after hitting 63, reducing DC’s total to 149/6 in 18.2 overs, giving PBKS a breath of relief.
The batter was Shardul Thakur. Arshdeep Singh dismissed Thakur in the innings penultimate, reducing DC to 159/7.
Brief Score
Punjab Kings 142/9 versus Delhi Capitals 159/7 (Mitchell Marsh 63, Sarfaraz Khan 32; Liam Livingstone 3-27). (Jitesh Sharma 44, Jonny Bairstow 28; Shradul Thakur 4-36).
