Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell played knocks of 53 and 32 respectively as Kings XI Punjab defeated Delhi Capitals by five wickets on Tuesday here at the Dubai International Stadium.
With this win, KXIP has gone to the fifth position in the points table with 8 points from 10 matches while Delhi Capitals is still at the top of the table with 14 points from 10 matches. Chasing 165, KXIP got off to a bad start as the side lost skipper KL Rahul (15) in the third over of the innings. Spinner Axar Patel provided the much-needed breakthrough to Delhi Capitals.
Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal tried to retrieve the innings for KXIP as the duo put on 35 runs for the second wicket. However, Ravichandran Ashwin staged Delhi’s comeback in the sixth over of the innings as both Gayle (29) and Agarwal (5) lost their wickets, reducing KXIP to 56/3.
In a spot of bother, Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell got together at the crease to retrieve the innings for KXIP. Both batsmen stitched together a partnership of 69 runs, which saw Pooran bringing up his half-century.
However, with Punjab just 40 runs away from the target, Delhi Capitals’ got the breakthrough of Pooran (53) as he was sent back to the pavilion by Kagiso Rabada. With just 18 runs required, KXIP was given another blow by Rabada as he dismissed the set batsman Maxwell (32) in the 16th over.
In the end, Deepak Hooda (15*) and James Neesham (10*) ensured KXIP does not suffer from any more hiccups and the duo took the side over the line by five wickets with six balls to spare.
Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan’s unbeaten knock of 106 runs guided Delhi Capitals to 164/5 in the allotted twenty overs against KXIP. The left-handed Dhawan also became the first cricketer to score back to back centuries in IPL.
Opting to bat first, Delhi Capitals got off to a good start as openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan scored 13 runs in the first over. However, KXIP made a comeback as Jimmy Neesham dismissed Shaw (7) in the fourth over.
Dhawan kept on smashing boundaries at regular intervals, however, batsmen at the other end found the going tough. Murugan Ashwin then provided the second breakthrough as he dismissed Iyer (14) in the ninth over, reducing Delhi to 73/2.
In the end, Mohammed Shami dismissed Marcus Stoinis (9) and Shimron Hetmyer (10) in the 18th and 20th over respectively, and as a result, Delhi Capitals was restricted to under the 165-run mark.
Brief Scores: Kings XI Punjab 167/5 (Nicholas Pooran 53, Glenn Maxwell 32, Kagiso Rabada 2-27) defeat Delhi Capitals 164/5 (Shikhar Dhawan 106*, Shreyas Iyer 14, Mohammad Shami 2-28) by five wickets.