On Wednesday, Delhi Capitals defeated Punjab Kings by a score of 15 runs to secure a consolation win and put Punjab Kings closer to elimination from the IPL. Liam Livingstone scored a blistering 94 during the match for Punjab Kings.
In the Himalayan high town of Dharamsala, South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw hammered an unbeaten 82 to lead Punjab to a score of 213-2. This total had been challenged by Livingstone’s 48-ball blitz earlier in the game.
Together, Livingstone and Atharva Taide stopped 78 runs from being scored. The rest of the batting effort was unsuccessful after Taide was retired out on 55.
In spite of Livingstone’s nine sixes and Delhi’s shoddy fielding, which included dropping two catches, Delhi limited the competition to 198-8 runs and eliminated themselves from contention for the play-offs.
“It was a bad performance in the field but we will take the win,” David Warner, the captain of the Delhi team, said after the match.
Punjab is in eighth place in the league of ten teams and must win their last group match in addition to depending on the outcomes of other matches and their net run rate to advance to the play-offs.
“It was frustrating,” Punjab captain Shikhar Dhawan said. “During the first six wickets, we didn’t bowl particularly well, and given how the ball was swinging, we missed some opportunities to take wickets.”
IPL powerhouses Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are two of the seven teams who are still in the running for one of the three available play-off positions in the Twenty20 event.
Early on this week, the defending champion Gujarat Titans were the first side to qualify for the play-offs and ensured themselves a spot in the top two of the group stage.
Warner (46) and Prithvi Shaw (54), who opened the batting for Delhi, combined for 94 runs for the first wicket to set the stage for Delhi’s massive score.
Warner, who bats left-handed, established the standard with an aggressive knock of 31 balls during which he hammered Kagiso Rabada, a former fast bowler for Delhi, for two sixes.
Quick and significant purchase of Punjab left-arm Sam Curran was able to prevent Warner from reaching his fifty, but the left-handed Rossouw was able to come in and assault with sixes and fours.
Before losing to Curran, Shaw had his fifty up on the board. The innings was brought to a successful close by a damaging combination between Rossouw and England’s Phil Salt.
Both Rossouw, who reached his first IPL half-century and was awarded the man of the match award, and Salt, who smashed a 26 off of only 14 balls, dismantled the opposition’s batting lineup as they scored 41 runs in the final two overs of the contest.