Kings XI Punjab beat Delhi Capitals by 5 wickets to get to 8 points from 10 games in IPL 2020 and lift themselves to the fifth spot in the points table. Doing this they keep their playoff hopes alive as Delhi lost their third game of the season. Shikhar Dhawan’s second IPL ton was not enough to take his side home as Punjab bagged two crucial points to stay alive in the contest. They have now won three back to back games this season.
Delhi won the toss and elected to bat first. Shikhar Dhawan (106*) scored his second IPL ton in back to back games to take his side to 164 after their 20 overs. He was unlucky to not get any help from the other batters. Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant scored 14 each as lack of partnerships along with Dhawan hampered Delhi’s progress in the innings. Mohammed Shami picked up 2 for 28, as Maxwell, Arshdeep Singh, Jimmy Neesham and Murugan Ashwin took one each.
Kings XI Punjab in the chase lost skipper KL Rahul early for 15. Chris Gayle played a cameo in the powerplay to give the Kings XI Punjab much needed push in their task to chase down the target. He scored 26 off Tushar Pandey’s first over to give Punjab a move on. Ravichandran Ashwin accounted for Gayle, the fifth time in his career, just when he looked for a big score.
Kings XI Punjab Fifth On Points Table
Nicholas Pooran (53 off 28) scored a quickfire fifty to take Punjab close to the finishing line before he was dismissed. Glenn Maxwell (32) scored his highest so far in the season as he tried playing with maturity. However, he ran out of patience and in trying to finish the game early, got himself dismissed in the 16th over. Deepak Hooda (15) and Jimmy Neesham (10) then ensured that they win in the 19th over to avoid taking the game in the final over.
Kagiso Rabada‘s spell of 2 for 27 proved too little too late for his side as the other bowlers went for runs. Shreyas Iyer, who led his team beautifully until this point, ran out of ideas against Kings XI Punjab. With this win, Punjab made it 1-all after losing to Delhi in the Super Over in the first leg. That game played on September 20 was just the second of the season.
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What was the Turning Point in the Game?
Delhi’s score of 164 was not enough at the end of the game as they fell at least 20 short. The pitch got better for batting in the second innings. Also, none of the Delhi batsmen supporting Dhawan meant that Delhi was well below-par with their end total.
Shikhar Dhawan, for his second IPL ton was awarded the Man of the Match. He started off slowly this season, but courtesy his back to back tons, has now scored 465 runs from 10 games at an average of 66.42. His scores since game seven reads 69*, 57, 101* and 106*.
“I took the responsibility of holding one end up and was also hitting the boundaries when I got the chance. On my Test debut, I remember I was scoring this frequently. I took proper rest and was fresh for this match.
I didn’t know ( when asked if he knew that he was the first man in IPL to score back-to-back tons). We gonna have a discussion and see where we can improve. We have been playing very good quite consistently. This is not going to put us down. We would try to come back stronger” said Dhawan on his knock.
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