Match Review

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To me, the turning point of the game was the 13th over of King XI Punjab’s innings. The Punjab side had already lost their first four wickets by the end of the 11th over. However, in the 12th over there was a spark in Sarfaraz Khan’s batting that could’ve led to a significant partnership between him and Krishnappa Gowtham. However, Saraaraz was shown off by Marcus Stoinis in the thirteenth over after which Gowtham alone tried to accelerate the innings in the chase.

Highs and Lows 

According to me, the low of this game was Chris Gayle’s underperformance despite a target of 180 to chase. Gayle(4 off 4) was Delhi’s first victim as he was shown off by Kagiso Rabada in the very first delivery of his spell. Following Gayle’s dismissal in the second over of the chase, Punjab lost their other opener KL Rahul (5 off 4) with a gap of one ball. Because of the terrible start, Punjab’s momentum wasn’t built for a long time until Mayank Agarwal took charge.

Rating Charts

At the end of the Powerplay, the Delhi Capitals had lost one wicket in the form of Prithvi Shaw(7 off 12) and also added 37 runs. After they lost their first wicket in the fourth over, the pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinka Rahane added 18 runs in the next two overs to make it a decent powerplay total. The two squeezed out 11 runs off Shami’s over, the penultimate over of the Powerplay, to make up for the slow start.

On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab lost both openers in the second over bowled by Rabada and that led to a bad kick to the Powerplay. It took some time for the team to recover from the damage as, together, Mayank Agarwal and Glenn Maxwell tried forming a steady partnership in the considerably high chase. At the end of six overs, KXIP were on 38/2(RR: 6.33) against an asking rate of 10.14.

Delhi were left on a shaky position at 37/1, at the end of the Powerplay, and the middle overs had to be key for them to reach to a big total. With Dhawan and Rahane in the middle, the hosts had enough resources to achieve a steady partnership and the desired momentum. Soon it was found in the following over, as 10 runs were added off Krishnappa Gowtham. In the next nine overs following the sixth, the team added 80 runs ( run rate of 8.89) while losing two wickets. At the end of the 15th over, DC’s total was 117/3 with Iyer on 16 off 11 and Pant on 9 off 11. 

The Punjab batting line up were able to add just 65 runs, at a run rate of 7.22, with the loss of three more wickets in the nine overs following the end of Powerplay, despite having had a 142-run target in the next 14 overs. The score at the end of the first six overs was 38/2, with a run rate of 6.33. Even though the scoring took a hike in the middle overs, it was barely better than the performance in the Powerplay. Mayank Aggarwal’s run-a-ball 39* was still something but it couldn’t do much for Punjab. At the end of the 15th over, Punjab were on 103/5 with 77 required off 30 deliveries.

After reaching a fairly commanding position in the 15th over, Delhi batsmen started off the death overs firing at the Punjab bowlers. Both Iyer and Pant smashed all bowlers ruthlessly as the bowlers couldn’t do much about it. Even though Iyer was dismissed in the 18th over, that didn’t stop Pant at all. All in all, in the final five overs Delhi added 63 runs, at a run rate of 12.6 and losing a couple of wickets, rendering Punjab’s efforts all futile.  

After containing the runs significantly in the middle overs of Punjab’s innings, Delhi bowlers fairly struggled in the death as Mayank Agarwal and Krishnappa Gowtham were inspired to chase it down. However, Gowtham’s shot in the final delivery of the penultimate over, bowled by Ishant Sharma, sealed the deal for Delhi. With 21 runs required off the final over, Punjab could only manage 8 and hence Delhi bowlers successfully defended the total. 

Well, it was arguably a one-sided game throughout, despite major efforts from Mayank Agarwal and Krishnappa Gowtham couldn’t post a defendable total and the bowling wasn’t exceptional either. All in all, it was a fairly T20 game, with a fair share of boundaries and maximums, to the viewers. However, Iyer and Gowthams six-hitting were worth an extra point.