Punjab came back to winning ways with an comfortable eight-wicket triumph over Mumbai Indians on Saturday while Delhi beat Kolkata in a tense match after a Super Over.
After bagging morale-boosting wins in their previous encounters, the both Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Delhi Capitals (DC) will hope to proceed with their ascendancy when they lock horns in an Indian Premier League (IPL) conflict here on Monday.
Punjab came back to winning ways with a comfortable eight-wicket triumph over Mumbai Indians on Saturday as K.L. Rahul played the role of a sheet anchor to perfection.
Rahul was unbeaten on 71 off 57 balls with KXIP achieving the 177-run target in 18.4 overs. This was KXIP’s second win in three games.
Delhi, then again, stymied Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) two-game winning run with a thrilling Super Over victory.
Chasing 186, DC completed on 185/6 to take the match to a Super Over late on Saturday night.
Batting first in the Super Over, Delhi managed only 10/1 however then South Africa speedster Kagiso Rabada underlined his class with an ideal yorker to dispose of the dangerous Andre Russell. He lined it up with a couple of ideal conveyances to defend the total and win the game for Delhi.
Other than Rabada, Delhi can take a great deal of heart from the way youthful Prithvi Shaw batted. The U-19 World Cup winning captain got out on 99 however his stay at the wrinkle showed his full collection which was nothing short of brilliant.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer likewise got runs and he would plan to proceed with the form and look to Shaw to convey the products by and by against Punjab. Delhi additionally have the touchy Rishabh Pant in their ranks who, on his day, can decimate any opposition.
Punjab has Chris Gayle who got going on Saturday however was expelled on 40 off 24 balls.
In the bowling department, skipper R. Ashwin and Mohammed Shami will lead the line but Murugan Ashwin’s performance (2/25) against Mumbai should give them extra impetus.
Andrew Tye and Hardus Viljoen were among wickets on Saturday however bowled a lot of loose deliveries, giving away 13 fours and three sixes.
For Delhi, Rabada was costly in his four overs against KKR and would hope to enhance Monday. Harshal Patel took two wickets however went for 40 runs in his four overs and even Chris Morris did not return impressive figures.
It was Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane (1/29) who bowled a tight line and Delhi would need to proceed with him to keep any semblance of Gayle calm.
Squads:
Delhi Capitals: Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Colin Ingram, Trent Boult, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer (C), Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Tewatia, Rishabh Pant (WK), Keemo Paul, Prithvi Shaw, Amit Mishra, Colin Munro, Jalaj Saxena, Harshal Patel, Hanuma Vihari, Bandaru Ayyappa, Ankush Bains, Avesh Khan, Nathu Singh, Sandeep Lamichhane, Manjot Kalra, Sherfane Rutherfor
Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Murugan Ashwin, Agnivesh Ayachi, Sam Curran, Chris Gayle, Harpreet Brar, Moises Henriques, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, David Miller, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Karun Nair, Darshan Nalkande, Nicholas Pooran, KL Rahul, Ankit Rajpoot, Simran Singh, Andrew Tye, Varun Chakravarthy, Hardus Viljoen.
