It was fireworks right from the word go as after skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bat, Delhi’s opening duo of Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan breathed fire from the very first ball. A thunderous powerplay saw the away side reach 60/0 within the first six overs, and the left-hand right-hand combo of Dhawan and Shaw were in no mood to stop, as the duo kept marching on and on and on to put together a mammoth 143-run opening stand. After the openers perished, valuable cameos from both Iyer and Rahane ensured that Delhi crossed the 200-run mark and set a daunting total for the home side. 

In response, Punjab had a nightmare of a start, losing Universe Boss Chris Gayle on the very first ball of the chase, and an extremely fidgety start from both Rahul and Mayank Agarwal meant that the required run rate jumped over 12 in no time. A combination of scoreboard pressure and some immaculate bowling from Delhi meant that KXIP’s chase never took off at any point, and soon it turned into a detestable snoozefest, with them batting out their entire quota of 20 overs and just posting 130 runs. 

Losing Gayle on the first ball was a sucker punch to the gut, but given the historically flat nature of the Mohali wicket, Punjab were still in the game, especially with both Rahul and Agarwal out in the middle. All they needed was a brisk finish to their powerplay, but an unbelievable sixth over from Ishant Sharma, which was a maiden, choked the home side and ensured that the task at hand became ten times more difficult. Scoring no runs off the 6th over kind of triggered what was about to follow in the chase - a lifeless, dull performance which had no purpose to it whatsoever.

Having been a standout performer for Punjab all throughout the season, much was expected off Mayank Agarwal’s bat today, but the Karnataka man’s bizarre innings instead ended up leaving a bitter taste. 27 runs were all he could manage in 32 balls and shockingly, he played out a maiden inside the powerplay. In T20 cricket, that simply is inexcusable.

When a team collects just 4 runs off the first two overs, you’re always sceptical about what could potentially follow, but Delhi shut all their critics in no time with an outrageously calculative, measured onslaught in the powerplay. Shaw was the designated destroyer in chief with Dhawan chipping in to support the youngster, but the duo carved the KXIP bowlers with surgical precision to blast their way to 60/0 by the end of the 6th over. A masterful display.

The very first over post the powerplay yielded 10 runs for Delhi and that, in itself, was evidence to how they were going to approach the middle overs. While it’s a well-known fact that both Dhawan and Shaw are not the greatest of batsmen against spin, the duo did a fine job of not allowing the Gowtham-Bishnoi pair to settle at any stage in the innings. Perhaps they could have gone a bit harder, given they had all 10 wickets in hand, but scoring 77 between overs 7 and 15 is something that any team would take on 9/10 occasions. 

Punjab would definitely be kicking themselves for letting it slip at the death. After conceding just 19 runs in total across overs 16, 17 and 18, they ended up giving away a hideous 38 runs in the last two, with Mujeeb’s 19th over accounting for 24 runs. The one thing you need to ensure as a bowling team after conceding a big opening stand is finishing strong at death, but Punjab failed miserably on the day.

If I were a fan who had paid to watch this game, I would have come out of the stadium fuming, for there was only one team that came out to play today. Ideally, Punjab should be refunding everyone the ticket money for the abomination of the performance that they put out today.