Delhi Capitals skipper David Warner admitted that it has been a challenging season for them especially while playing at home. The Delhi pitch, which was offered in IPL 2023, wasn’t a batting paradise and the David Warner-led team struggled to get going with the bat.
However, DC showed what their batters can do on a good pitch as they posted a par score of 213-2 against Punjab Kings at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala on Wednesday.
Warner and Prithvi Shaw, who was making a comeback to the final XI, gave a solid start to their team, scoring 61 runs in the powerplay overs, which was a missing factor throughout the season. Warner scored 46 whereas Shaw made 54 to make a comeback to form.
However, the match-winning knock was played by Rilee Rossouw, who scored 82 runs from only 37 balls and played at the top of his game. The left-handed South African got to his fifty off just 25 balls and scored six fours and as many sixes in his blistering knock to help DC go past the 200-run mark.
On the other hand, PBKS managed 198-8 in their 20 overs after Liam Livingstone scored a whirlwind knock of 94 runs and kept the spectators on the edge of their seats at the fag end. However, the English batter heroics with the bat went in vain as DC prevailed in defending 213 runs.
However, DC captain David Warner admitted that it was a poor fielding performance from them as Anrich Nortje and Yash Dhull dropped sitters to give second lives to Liam Livingstone and Atharva Taide respectively.
David Warner said in the post-match presentation, “Pretty bad fielding performance. We backed our strengths. Playing on a nice wicket helped. Was pretty challenging at home. The impact Prithvi had was nice to see. Rilee Rossouw played well as well. We needed some consistency at our home venue. We haven’t been able to work out a total at home. Great to get the points tonight.”
Delhi Capitals were finally able to come up with a good batting performance and thus went on to win the game. Moreover, Ishant Sharma and Anrich Nortje scalped two wickets apiece for DC.
Delhi Capitals will next face Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Saturday in their last match of the season.
