Prabhsimran, spinners lead Punjab Kings to a 31-run win over Delhi Capitals

Prabhsimran Singhs brilliant maiden century followed by spin domination of Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar led Punjab Kings to a convincing 31run win over Delhi Capitals in Match No 59 of IPL 2023 at Arun Jaitley Stadium here on SaturdayOpener Prabhsimrans maiden IPL century 103 off 65 guided Punjab Kings to a competitive 1677 in 20 overs Punjab were struggling at 453 but Prabhsimran stitched a vital stand of 72 runs off 54 balls for the fourth wicket with Sam Curran to get them out of trouble On the other hand Ishant Sharma was the most successful bowler for Delhi Capitals with his 227In reply despite having solid Powerplay Delhi Capitals struggled against spin choke implemented by Harpreet 430 and Chahar 216 and suffered another loss in the seasonWith this win Punjab moved up to the sixth position in the points table with six victories in 12 matches and kept their playoffs hopes alive On the other hand Delhi remained at the bottom of the points table with just 4 wins in 12 matches as they are now out of the race for the playoffs by their own meritAlso Read IPL 2023 Bottomplaced DC take on inconsistent PBKS at homeChasing a fighting total Delhi Capitals were off to a flying start scoring 650 after 6 overs courtesy of Warners attacking approach Warner came out all guns blazing hitting Rishi Dhawan for backtoback boundaries in the very first overThe Australian didnt spare anything whether it was the pace of Nathan Elis Sam Curran Arshdeep Singh and the spin of Harpreet Brar hitting the new ball to all parts of the ground and making the target of 168 look like a cakewalk On the other hand Philip Salt also found occasional boundaries as Delhi were cruising towards the target quite comfortablyIt was Brar who eventually gave Punjab their first breakthrough in the 7th over by removing Salt 21 However Warner continued his aggressive intent and reached his 60th fifty in the IPL off 23 ballsThough Warner was going strong he didnt get support from the other end with Mitchell Marsh and Rilee Rossouw getting out cheaply against Punjab spinners Eventually Warner 54 off 27 also got to Harpreet Brar in the 9th over which started Delhi Capitals downslide in the runchaseThe likes of Axar Patel and Manish Pandey also didnt grab the opportunity to shine getting out without showing any fight and leaving Delhi Capitals to 886 after 101 oversLower down the order the likes of Aman Hakim Khan 16 Praveen Dubey 16 and Kuldeep Yadav 10 not out showed some resistance but their efforts were not enough as Delhi Capitals were eventually restricted to 1368 in 20 oversEarlier put in to bat first Punjab Kings got off to a disastrous start as they lost three key wickets Shikhar Dhawan 7 Liam Livingstone 4 and Jitesh Sharma 5 inside the PowerplayDhawan who looked in fine touch and smashed a six as well was the first one to depart getting out to Ishant Sharma in the second over of the innings Continuing his impressive swing bowling Ishant then rattled the stumps of Livingstone who went for a big heave but missed the ball completelyWickets were falling at the other end but Prabhsimran Singh was able to find a few boundaries in between The righthanded opener hit Axar for a six to deep backwardsquare in the first ball of the last over of the Powerplay but the Indian spinner bowled Jitesh in the same over to leave Punjab Kings 453 after 52 oversFrom there on Prabhsimran who carried his bat through the Powerplay and new batter Sam Curran had the responsibility to lead Punjabs recovery However the likes of Kuldeep Yadav Axar and Praveen Dubey bowled the next few overs with tight line and length to keep Punjab Kings to 663 after 10 oversWith runs not coming easily Prabhsimran finally decided to free his arms and smashed Mitchell Marsh for two sixes and one four as 21 runs came from that over After Marsh went for runs Delhi skipper Warner brought spinners Kuldeep and Axar into the attack and they bowled decent overs to check the flow of boundariesHowever there were enough opportunities for Prabhsimran to take singles and doubles as he got off to his second IPL fifty in 42 balls On the other hand Curran was playing the second fiddle quite well as his stand with Prabhsimran kept the scoreboard ticking for PunjabDelhi desperately needed a wicket and it was Praveen Dubey who brought a muchneeded breakthrough for them by getting rid of Curran 20 overs in the 15th over Harpreet Brar who came to bat next couldnt do much as he got out to Kuldeep Yadav leaving Punjab at 1295 after 161 oversDespite losing partners from the other end Prabhsimran continued his attacking approach and took Delhi bowlers to the cleaners The opener slammed Khaleel Ahmed for backtoback boundaries to get his maiden IPL hundred off 61 balls in the 18th overPunjab were dependent on Prabhsimran for a strong finish but Mukesh Kumar dismissed the batter soon after his century and bowled an excellent over to give just three runs Khaleel too bowled a decent last over to keep Punjab Kings to 1677 in 20 overs which was too much for Delhi in the endBrief scoresPunjab Kings 1677 in 20 overs Prabhsimran 103 Sam Curran 20 Ishant 227 beat Delhi Capitals 1368 in 20 Overs David Warner 54 Philip Salt 21 Harpreet Brar 430 Rahul Chahar 216 by 31 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever