With the help of Prabhsimran Singh’s 103 off 65 balls, Punjab Kings scored 167 runs for seven wickets in the crucial IPL match against Delhi Capitals on Saturday. Delhi are almost out of the playoff race with just four wins from 11 matches, while Punjab, who have five wins from as many matches, will have to win the remaining three matches. Apart from Prabhsimran, who scored the first century in IPL, the rest of the Punjab batsmen failed. Sent in to bat first, Punjab got off to a poor start and Ishant Sharma applied the pressure with two wickets in his opening spell.
Although Ishant, who came to bowl in the second over, was welcomed by Shikhar Dhawan with a six, but in an attempt to play a high shot on the very next ball, Riley Rossouw was caught. Shikhar, who failed to perform consistently, returned to the pavilion after scoring seven runs. Prabhasimran tried to reduce the pressure by hitting two fours to Akshar Patel who came to bowl in the fourth over. Ishant, however, bowled Liam Livingstone (four) on the first ball in the very next over. At the other end, Prabhsimran tried to increase the run rate by hitting Akshar for a six in the sixth over.
Akshar, however, bowled Jitesh Sharma (five) and gave another blow to Punjab. After six overs of the powerplay, Punjab’s score was 46 runs and three of its batsmen had returned to the pavilion. After this, Prabhsimran and Sam Curran played cautiously and waited for the loose balls. Both added 72 runs in 54 balls in the fourth wicket partnership. Prabhsimran got a lifeline on 68 when he was dropped by Rosseau at the Longan boundary off Praveen Dubey in the 15th over. In the same over, however, Kuren was caught by Aman Khan at the boundary.
Curren scored 20 runs in 24 balls. Kuldeep Yadav got Harpreet Brar (2) caught by Mitchell Marsh on the first ball of his last over. Prabhasimran kept the scoreboard moving in the same over with a six over backward square leg and a four over the bowler’s head. He completed his first century by hitting Khaleel Ahmed for fours in the third and fourth balls of the 18th over. The 22-year-old batsman touched triple digits in 61 balls with the help of ten fours and six sixes. His innings was ended by Mukesh Kumar who was handed the ball in the 19th over. He took the valuable wicket of Prabhasimran for just three runs in this over. In the last five overs, Punjab scored 50 runs losing three wickets.
