Delhi Capitals (DC) continued their winning streak as they thump Punjab Kings (PBKS) by seven wickets with 14 balls to spare in pursuit of 166 runs. Mayank Agarwal, who led the side in the absence of ‘hospitalised‘ KL Rahul played an unbeaten knock of 99 runs but it went in vain as Shikhar Dhawan led his side from the front to take Delhi home.
Batting first, Punjab banked on whirlwind knock from their stand-in skipper Mayank Agarwal to post 166 runs. Chris Gayle and Dawid Malan got starts but failed to capitalise on them. Ultimately, it was Agarwal who propelled Punjab Kings to a challenging total, which in the end was not enough to secure them a win.
Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan once again got DC off to a flying start. They added 63 runs for the first wicket and there was no coming back from thereon. Dhawan remained unbeaten on 69 runs and with some contributions from Steve Smith and skipper Rishabh Pant – Delhi convincingly chased down the total.
Speaking at the end of the game, DC skipper Rishabh Pant stated that he is enjoying the captaining stint and is learning with each game. Moreover, the young skipper hinted that they might experiment in the Kolkata-leg of the competition to tighten the loose ends before the business end.
Shikhar and Prithvi gave us a very good start. In the first innings, the ball was gripping and even in the second innings, it was slow but the way they started was commendable. It feels so good when you have a great start in every match.
Most of the things are sorted but we need to try a few things for the Kolkata leg. The competition is very good, we have a gun pace bowling attack and it’s difficult to make everyone play. I am enjoying captaincy, learning each and every day. Everyone is helping me,” DC skipper Rishabh Pant said.
On the other hand, PBKS skipper Mayank Agarwal revealed that KL Rahul can be back at the back end of IPL 2021. The batter from Karnataka also added that they were 10 runs short and vouched to come back stronger in the next tie.
“He’s (KL Rahul) going for a surgery, hopefully he should be back. Would’ve liked two points but we were ten short on that wicket and for the kind of PowerPlay they had, we had to really scramble there. One batsman had to bat through and that was the plan, it was my day and tried to get as many as we can but didn’t get as many in the middle overs but at least ended well.
We have to shut this off and turn up next game and put our best foot forward, figure ways how to get those two points. Kudos to Harpreet, the way he turned up and also hit a crucial boundary, he’s bowling exceedingly well. It’s about doing well as a unit, hopefully we will do well in the next game,” Mayank Agarwal said.