IPL 2020: Shikhar Dhawan's second consecutive century faded in front of the stormy half-century innings of Nicholas Pooran, on which Kings XI Punjab kept their hopes alive after beating Delhi Capitals by five wickets here on Tuesday despite a poor start. With an unbeaten 106 off 61 from Dhawan in excellent form, Delhi won the toss and scored 164 for five wickets. Dhawan hit 12 fours and three sixes, but none other than him reached 20 runs.
The failure of the rest of Delhi batsmen cost him heavily as there was no disturbance in the pitch. In such a situation, despite Chris Gayle (29 off 13 balls), Punjab had lost three of their key batsmen to 56 runs. Puran took over here and scored 53 runs from 28 balls with the help of six fours and three sixes. Glenn Maxwell (32 off 24 balls) also contributed significantly. Punjab scored 167 for five wickets in 19 overs. Delhi's fielding was not good, which Punjab took advantage of. This is Punjab's fourth win in ten matches, taking it to eight points and finishing fifth. Delhi have their third defeat, but are still on top with 14 points.
Punjab also did not have a good start. Captain KL Rahul (15) returned to the pavilion in the third over, playing the wrong shot on Axar Patel. Gayle scored 26 runs in the fifth over of Tushar Deshpande's innings with the help of two sixes and three fours, but Ravichandran Ashwin scattered his balls as soon as he came. Mayank Agarwal (5) was also injured as he was run out in a scuffle with Puran. After this, Puran took over the responsibility. Deshpande's line and length, which had an impact in the last two matches, was not correct. Puran sent Stoinis to the ball for six runs after hitting six and two fours. He hit a four off Rabada to complete his half-century off 27 balls, but the next ball kissing his gloves reached Rishabh Pant. He shared a 69-run partnership with Maxwell.
Now Maxwell had a responsibility. He made his innings easy, but when the team was 18 runs away from the target, he gave a waving catch to Rabada's ball. Rabada took two wickets for 27 runs. Deepak Hooda 15 and James Neesham 10 not out. Neesham scored the winning six over Daniel Symes, who was included in the playing XI in place of Enrich Noortje. Earlier, fast bowlers Mohammad Shami (2 for 28) and spinners Glenn Maxwell (1 for 31), Murugan Ashwin (1 for 33) and Ravi Bishnoi (24 runs from three overs) did not allow the rest of the batsmen to play freely, But he did not have one in front of Dhawan.
Dhawan, who scored an unbeaten 101 against Chennai Super Kings, became the first batsman to score a century in consecutive matches in the IPL. Prithvi Shaw (seven) failed to reach double digits in the fourth consecutive match, while Dhawan scored 50 or more in the innings in the fourth consecutive match. He is the sixth batsman to achieve this feat in the IPL. His timing was accurate and his shots were excellent.
Dhawan hit three fours in Shami's over to put pressure on the bowlers. He also became the fifth batsman to complete 5000 runs in this T20 league with a six imposed on Bishnoi. He completed a century off 57 balls and scored the highest score of his career. Dhawan played this innings while wickets were falling at regular intervals from the other end. Captain Shreyas Iyer (14 off 12 balls) gave his wicket in the prize. Rishabh Pant (14 runs off 20 balls), who recovered from injury, was seen struggling to score as long as he was at the crease. Marcus Stoinis (nine) also failed to support Dhawan in the death overs. Shimron Hetmyer (10) returned to the pavilion on the last ball.
ALSO READ|
IPL 2020: RR vs CSK: Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by 7 wickets
IPL 2020: KXIP vs MI : Kings XI Punjab beat Mumbai Indians in Super Over
No comments:
Post a Comment