Punjab Kings had a horrible day at work against Delhi Capitals as they were blown away by nine wickets at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday. PBKS was skittled out for a paltry score of 115 runs after Rishabh Pant won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Mayank Agarwal, PBKS captain, admitted that they didn’t bat and bowl well but they should move on and not dwell too much on it. It was an off-day for the whole team as Delhi Capitals totally dominated the show.
DC spinners made merry of a sticky pitch after Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav scalped two wickets apiece. The trio bowled 10 overs between them, picked up six wickets, and conceded only 45 runs. Thus, PBKS could not get a move on in their batting innings as DC bowlers were right on the money.
On the other hand, Prithvi Shaw and David Warner were in a hurry to chase down the meager total. Shaw and Warner started their respective innings in the topmost gear and scored 81 runs in the powerplay overs, which is the highest score this edition. Shaw scored 41 from only 20 balls whereas Warner remained unbeaten on 60 from 30 balls. The left-hander scored the 53rd IPL fifty of his career.
It was one-way traffic throughout the game as Delhi Capitals dominated the whole contest against the Mohali-based franchise.
Mayank Agarwal said in the post-match presentation, “It’s a tough one, a day to forget for us, best to move on and not think too much into the game. We didn’t bat and bowl well, we just need to move on from today. We have been losing too many wickets too early, that’s a concern. Don’t want to dwell too much, if we do so, a lot of negatives will come out. A total of around 180 could have been competitive. In hindsight, I could have given a couple of overs early for the spinners, but I didn’t do so.”
This was Punjab Kings’ fourth loss of the season and they will look to bounce back. In fact, nothing went their way against Delhi Capitals and such a big loss also had a big impact on their NRR, which will be crucial towards the business end of the tournament.
Punjab Kings will now look to bounce back stronger as they will next face defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday.
