It’s not often that a player from one team hits a hundred and the team could manage to score only 164 runs in its 20 overs. However, playing for Delhi Capitals, Shikhar Dhawan scored a brilliant 106* off just 61 balls, but his team ended up scoring only 164 off their 20 overs, giving the opposition Kings Xi Punjab, a comparatively easier total to chase and they grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
The Punjabis didn’t mess this one and beat the table-toppers Capitals by five wickets in Dubai with one over to spare. While Shikhar Dhawan was the hero of the game for Delhi, the men who brought victory to the Punjab camp included the likes of Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell. There were a lot of failures on Delhi’s end although, for Punjab too, quite a few senior pros failed to adapt to conditions.
On that note, here is the list of players that made it to the Hits and Flops of the game.
While wickets kept falling at one end, it was Dhawan who held his fort to get Delhi to the target that was above par. If you minus the 106 of Dhawan’s from Delhi’s total of 164, what’s left is a dismal show of batting from the rest of his teammates. It was a historic moment for Dhawan when he hit the hundred as he became the first player in IPL’s history to have hit back to back hundreds.
Although his team lost quite comprehensively, just for sheer brilliance, Dhawan was awarded the Man of the Match for that game. In his knock of 106, Dhawan hit 12 fours and three sixes, scoring at a strike rate of 173.77
When the big guns like KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, and even Chris Gayle were back in the hut by the end of the sixth over, it was hard to believe that Kings XI would actually go on to clinch the match, especially after the kind of goof ups they have had throughout the tournament. But Caribbean Nicholas Pooran said enough is enough as he took the opposition bowlers the cleaners shifting the entire pressure back on the fielding team.
His counter-attacking innings of 55 from 28 balls at a strike rate of more than 189 was the impetus that was required for even an out of form Maxwell to feel that he belonged to the ground as the pair put on a match-winning partnership of 69 runs off just 40 balls. The only thing faulty in Pooran’s inning was him throwing away his wicket instead of finishing the game.
Having failed in the last nine matches, whispers of taking Maxwell out of the team had now become a loud noise. But the Aussie took this opportunity in the 10th game to silence those noises at least for the next game. Maxwell scored a well compiled 32 off 28 balls which was according to the demand of the situation. Not only that he also bowled a full quota of four overs and took a wicket of Rishabh Pant as well, giving just 31 runs.
Coming back from injury, Pant was looked rusty while batting as he could score only 14 runs off 20 balls, slowing down the progress of the game for the Capitals, above that, he gave his wicket to a part-timer Maxwell. Pant’s wicket-keeping has been under scrutiny as well, and in this game too, he remained under scanner as he missed a golden opportunity to run out Nicholas Pooran very early in the Punjab innings.
However, this wasn’t the first time that Pant has had such a torrid outing. In the seven matches that he has played in the tournament so far, Pant hasn’t been able to go past 40 in any of them.
Having started the IPL season on a promising note, Shaw seems to be getting alienated as he has now missed three opportunities in a row. Having had two ducks and a one-digit score in his last three outings, Shaw once again failed as he got out of 7 from 11 balls off Jimmy Neesham’s bowling.
But that is not the only problem, apart from failing as a batsman, Shaw seems to be having some problems in the field as well. Yesterday too, Shaw couldn’t save a few boundaries in the outfield as well.
While the Delhi team as per their captain would take this game as a wake-up call and try and sort things out before they head in for the playoffs, Punjab would take this as an opportunity to eye one of the spots in the Playoffs.
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