Delhi Capitals boosted their playoff hopes on Monday as they defeated Punjab Kings by 17 runs in their IPL 2022 match at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai. With this win, Rishabh Pant-led DC have now reached the 4th spot on the Indian Premier League 2022 table with 14 points against their name. The 5th placed Royal Challengers Bangalore also have 14 points but their negative Net Run Rate (NRR) has cost them dearly.
Shardul Thakur took four wickets while Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav bagged two each as Delhi bowlers restricted Punjab to 142/9 in their chase of 160 runs.
Earlier, Mitchell Marsh’s blistering knock of 63 guided Delhi Capitals to a modest 159/7. Arshdeep Singh and Liam Livingstone bagged 3 wickets each for Punjab Kings.
Chasing 160, Punjab openers Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan enjoyed a good start as their score read 27/0 after three overs. But things quickly turned around for them as Anrich Nortje drew first blood for Delhi in form of dangerous-looking opener Bairstow (28) in the 4th over. The Englishman pulled but he didn’t get the elevation and found Axar Patel at the deep square leg.
The last over of the powerplay wreaked havoc on PBKS top-order as Shradul Thakur struck twice to remove Bhanuka Rajapaksa and opener Shikhar Dhawan (19). Punjab’s score read 54/3 after the first six overs.
Axar Patel piled more misery on Punjab in the 7th over as he removed skipper Mayank Agarwal. Mayank was looking for a late cut but he failed to get the bat on the ball and the stumps were rattled.