Lion-hearted Prabhsimran Singh and brave Harbreet Brat set the stage on fire as they powered Punjab Kings to a win over Delhi Capitals in Match 59 of TATA IPL 2023 at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi.
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Prabhsimran smashed his maiden IPL ton (103 off 65) to propel PBKS to a competitive total of 167/7. Harpreet Brar then ripped through the DC batting line-up with 4/30 as a lethal bowling performance from PBKS saw them restrict the home side to 136/8 and win the match by 31 runs. Delhi Capitals were knocked out of the competition courtesy of the loss while PBKS moved to sixth in the table courtesy the win.
Chasing 168, Delhi Capitals got off to a fast start courtesy David Warner and Phil Salt. David Warner got going off the first ball itself, cracking a pull through mid-wicket for a four. He then slapped one through backward point for two fours in a row. Phil Salt then got into the groove cracking a couple of fours off Harpreet Brar as the pair accumulated 13 off the over. The boundary flow didn’t stop as the duo hit a total of 11 fours and a six inside the Powerplay to take DC to 65/0 at the end of first six overs.
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Brar finally provided the breakthrough as he came back strong to clean up Salt (21 off 17). Warner then brought up his 60th IPL fifty, off just 23 balls but soon he saw Mitchell Marsh depart at the other end as he was trapped LBW by Rahul Chahar. It all started going downhill for Delhi Capitals from then on. The home side lost another wicket to a spinner as Rilee Rossouw mistimed his heave straight to deep mid-wicket off Brar. The left-arm spinner provided a huge moment in the game five balls later as he had David Warner (54 off 27) trapped LBW. The DC captain reviewed it but the ball tracker showed all three reds. The next ball saw Axar walk back as he was trapped LBW by Rahul Chahar. He too opted for a review but The onfield decision stayed as the ball was clipping leg stump – umpire’s call.
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Brar then scalped his fourth as he cleaned up Impact Player Manish Pandey with a beauty. DC went from 74/1 to 88/6 in three overs. Aman Khan and Praveen Dubey then steadied the ship with a 30-run stand but with the required run rate creeping up, Aman (16 off 18) departed, holing out to deep mid-wicket, off Impact Player Nathan Ellis who had replaced centurion Prabhsimran Singh at the start of the second innings. It was always going to be an uphill task from then on and DC eventually fell short by 31 runs.
Earlier, Delhi Capitals captain David Warner won the toss and elected to bowl. They made two changes to the starting XI as Mukesh Kumar and Dubey replaced Ripal Patel and Lalit Yadav. They named Ripal Patel, Lalit Yadav, Manish Pandey, Chetan Sakariya and Abishek Porel as their substitutes.
Punjab Kings made one change to the starting eleven as Sikandar Raza replaced Bhanuka Rajapaksa. Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Matthew Short, Harpreet Bhatia and Mohit Rathee made it to their substitutes list.
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Delhi Capitals got off to a good start courtesy Ishant Sharma. The senior pacer struck early as he got the big wicket of Shikhar Dhawan in the second over. Khaleel started off with a disciplined four-run over. Dhawan then greeted Ishant Sharma with a six over long on first ball but the lanky DC pacer bounced back to have the PBKS captain caught at deep square leg off the next ball.
Prabhsimran then looked to up the ante, hitting three fours in the next two overs but PBKS were jolted again in the next over as Ishant cleaned up Liam Livingstone who went for a wild swing across the line but missed and found the stumps shattered.
PBKS lost another one in the next over as Axar Patel cleaned up the in-form Jitesh Sharma. DC kept the pressure on as the next four overs cost just 20 runs. Prabhsimran then turned tables by breaking the shackles and cracking two sixes and a four off Mitchell Marsh. He kept the momentum going despite losing Sam Curran and Harpreet Brar at the other end. He got lucky in the 15th over as he was dropped by Rossouw on 64 and he made DC pay as he paced his innings perfectly and reached his maiden IPL hundred in style with two fours in a row off Khaleel Ahmed. He got there off 61 balls.
Prabhsimran (103 off 65) finally departed in the penultimate over, as he missed his reverse ramp and the ball ricocheted off his pads onto the stumps, off Mukesh Kumar who bowled a fantastic over and gave away just three. Sikandar Raza smacked a six over long on off Khaleel in the last over but the pacer finished well, giving away just four off the last four balls and taking the wicket of Shahrukh Khan as PBKS posted 167/7.
