Delhi Capitals beat Punjab Kings by six wickets in the IPL at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium on Sunday, thanks to Shikhar Dhawan’s swashbuckling 92. Dhawan was in fine form throughout his 49-ball innings, which included 13 fours and two sixes. As DC chased down 196 in 18.2 overs, Dhawan was ably assisted by Prithvi Shaw (32 off 15), skipper Rishabh Pant (15), and Marcus Stoinis (27 not out).
When Punjab was given the opportunity to bat, Mayank Agarwal and captain KL Rahul put together a century-run opening stand to help the team reach a daunting 195 for four.
Punjab got off to a flying start with Agarwal scoring 69 off 36 balls and Rahul scoring 61 off 51 deliveries.
With the score on 196, Dhawan and Shaw got off to a fast start, sharing 59 runs in 33 balls for the first wicket.
Shaw’s good form continued as he hammered a 17-ball 32 before being holed out to Chris Gayle off Arshdeep Singh.
Before being Riley Meredith’s first victim of the day, Steve Smith, in his first match with DC, seemed to be a pale shadow of himself.
The wickets, on the other hand, had no impact on Dhawan, who continued his attacking strokeplay to reach his fifty in 31 deliveries.
DC found gold by scoring 18 runs off the 14th over, needing 71 off 42 bats.
As DC reduced the lead to 53 off 36 deliveries, Dhawan hit Meredith for a hat-trick of fours and the bowler gave away another boundary off a wide ball.
Pant’s decision to bowl after winning the toss earlier in the match backfired, as the opening pair of Agarwal and Rahul pounced on the opposing bowlers right away, hitting boundaries and sixes at will.
Though Agarwal was the more aggressive of the two at first, Rahul upped the ante after a more relaxed start.
Agarwal and Rahul batted aggressively against debutants Lukman Meriwala and Kagiso Rabada, guiding their side to 94 runs for no loss in ten overs.
During his 36-ball innings, Agarwal looked threatening, hitting seven boundaries and four hits over the boundary.
DC, on the other hand, dismissed both batsmen in fast succession to force a rematch. Although Agarwal was the first to go, slicing a Meriwala delivery straight to Shikhar Dhawan at sweeper cover in the 13th over, Rahul fell victim to a quick Rabada catch at midwicket.
Rahul hit seven boundaries and two sixes in his innings.
a heavy hitter Chris Gayle (11) struggled to make an impression, dying shortly after attempting a limit.
Nicholas Pooran (9) struggled once more, but Deepak Hooda (22 not out off 13) and Shahrukh Khan (15 not out off five) got the much-needed major hits in the final innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin (0/28) was economical for DC, with Avesh Khan (1/33), Meriwala (1/32), Chris Woakes (1/42) and Kagiso Rabada (1/43) each taking a wicket.