Prabhsimran and Brar lead Punjab to victory, Delhi out of playoff race
Harpreet Brar took four wickets after Prabhsimran Singh’s 65-ball 103 helped Punjab Kings keep their playoff hopes alive by registering a 31-run win over Delhi Capitals in a crucial IPL match on Saturday, while Delhi were out of contention. . Sent in to bat first, Punjab Kings scored 167 runs for seven wickets. In response, Delhi could only manage 136 for eight due to an unabated tale of middle-order failure despite a brilliant start. With this loss, Delhi (eight points from 12 matches) were out of contention for the playoffs, while Punjab moved up to sixth place with 12 points from 12 matches, although they will have to win both the remaining matches by a good margin.
Delhi were 68 for no loss at one stage and David Warner and Phil Salt added 64 runs in six overs of the powerplay. After this, however, Delhi lost six wickets within 19 runs. Parbar broke the back of Delhi’s innings by dismissing Riley Rossouw (five) and Warner in the ninth over. Warner was adjudged not out by the on-field umpire but was given out lbw on DRS. He got the same Rossouw caught by Sikandar Raza at the deep mid-wicket boundary. Brar took four wickets for 30 runs in four overs. In-form Salt (21 runs in 17 balls) became his first victim. Impact player Manish Pandey, who replaced Khaleel Ahmed, could not even open the account and became the fourth victim of Brar. Rahul Chahar sent Mitchell Marsh (three) and Akshar Patel (one) to the pavilion. Nathan Ellis also got two wickets.
Warner scored the highest 50 runs for Delhi and hit ten fours and a six in his 23-ball innings. As soon as he came, he had expressed his intentions to Rishi Dhawan by hitting two fours in the first two balls but he did not get help from the other end. Earlier, apart from Prabhasimran, who scored his 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, Prabhasimran 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 breather 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.
