Mumbai: An IPL 2022 match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings, which was under Covid-19 cloud, saw an unusual outing from PBKS as DC registered a comfortable nine-wicket win here at the Brabourne Stadium on Wednesday.
DC spinners setup the match, with Kuldeep Yadav, Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel taking two wickets each which helped their side to bundle out PBKS for 115, the season's lowest total.
The below-par target was then a walk in the park for David Warner, whose unbeaten 60 off 30 took DC home with 57 balls to spare. Warner and Prithvi Shaw (41) hammered PBKS fast bowlers ruthlessly.
DC raced to 81 for no loss at the end of the Powerplay. PBKS pulled one back, with Rahul Chahar dismissing Shaw but the damage was already done.
Warner, who looked imperious, went onto register his fifty before finishing off the match in the 11th over with an effortless pull, which went for a boundary, to boost Delhi Capitals' net run rate.
Earlier in the day, DC bowlers split the loot, ensuring PBKS batters get no room to settle down. Axar (2/10), Lalit (2/11), Khaleel Ahmed (2/21), Kuldeep (2/24) and Mustafizur Rahman (1/28) started wreaking havoc on PBKS towards the end of the Powerplay.
PBKS skipper Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan gave a decent start. Agarwal clobbered Shardul Thakur for three boundaries in the third over, before Lalit cleaned up the mess.
A brilliant catch from wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant ended Dhawan's (9) stay in the middle. On a Mustafizur's ball, an inside edge rattled the stumps of Agarwal (24). DC then fetched the crucial wicket of Liam Livingstone. The Englishman missed the straight loft off the bowling of Axar and gloveman Pant stumped him cheaply for two. From hereon, PBKS could never recover.
The last recognised PBKS batters - Jonny Bairstow (9), Jitesh Sharma (32), Shahrukh Khan (12) - fell shortly, leaving their side on 92/8 after 14.3 overs. PBKS' only maximum came off the bat of Chahar (12).
Delhi Capitals' six members, including two overseas players Mitchell Marsh and Tim Seifert, tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the match.
On the eve of the fixture, the BCCI moved the game from the MCA Stadium, Pune, the original venue for the game, to the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai "to avoid any further incident due to any undetected case during a long-distance bus journey in a closed environment." (UNI)
