DC made a strong statement against PBKS in a game that could heavily influence the look of the points table come to the end of the league stage. Both teams, on 12 points, battled for the opportunity to decide their own future. Any team that reaches 16 points is most likely to qualify, given that Royal Challengers Bangalore, who can also reach a maximum of 16 points, are massively disadvantaged owing to their poor net run rate, brought about by the fact that they suffered a few big defeats in the tournament.
Punjab skipper Mayank Agarwal won the toss and surprisingly opted to bowl first, even as their previous game against RCB served as an example of not doing so. Nevertheless, they did get off to an excellent start with the ball. English all-rounder Liam Livingstone got rid of the dangerous David Warner off the very first ball of the innings.
Warner’s dismissal did not seem to affect the morale of the Delhi batsmen whatsoever. Sarfaraz Khan and Mitchell Marsh went about their business with a minimum of fuss, scoring at ten an over right from the outset.
Marsh carried on his spectacular form, scoring boundaries for fun in the powerplay. He did an excellent job of carrying the Delhi innings through the powerplay, giving them the start they needed. Sarfaraz, who opened, also did well for his 16-ball 32, but was dismissed in the penultimate over of the powerplay.
Post the powerplay, the Capitals were not able to score as quickly, with Rahul Chahar bowling an outstanding spell to keep the Delhi batsmen firmly in check. The pressure soon got to the Delhi batsmen, leading to the fall of three quick wickets.
Marsh continued for a while, after which he was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada. Arshdeep Singh was effective in the death once again, picking up three wickets to restrict the Capitals to 159, a total that they would have considered well within their ability to chase down.
Punjab began quite well, with new opening pair Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan both getting off to quick starts, as they quickly added 38 runs in 3.5 overs. Anrich Nortje then got rid of the in-form Bairstow, but the event did not seem like it was going to have much of an impact on the game. However, that was the opening of the floodgates for the Delhi bowlers who, in the space of a couple of overs, reduced the Kings to 67/5.
Jitesh Sharma valiantly attempted to save the game for PBKS, scoring a gritty 44, but his innings was cut short just at the time when his side needed him the most. From that point forward, it all went downhill for the Kings, who were only able to bring down the margin of their loss, ultimately losing by 17 runs.
Brief scores
Delhi Capitals 159 for 7 (Marsh 63, Sarfaraz 32, Livingstone 3-27) beat Punjab Kings 142 for 9 (Jitesh 44, Thakur 4-36, Axar 2-14, Kuldeep 2-14) by 17 runs
