An excellent 46-ball 63 from England all rounder Sam Curran and crucial support from fellow Englishman Liam Livingstone (38 not out off 21 balls) helped Punjab Kings (PBKS) beat Delhi Capitals (DC) by four wickets in the IPL 2024 clash at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Saturday.
Chasing 175 runs for victory, PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow tore into the DC bowling attack, putting on 34 runs in the first three overs to lay the foundation for the chase.
But twin strikes in the fourth over by Ishant Sharma, who removed both the openers in the space of four deliveries, brought DC back into the contest.
Prabsimran Singh and Sam Curran began the innings rebuild, mixing caution with aggression to ensure the required run-rate never reached unreachable levels, but just when the stand seemed like establishing into something big, Kuldeep Yadav removed the former (26 runs off 17 balls) to leave PBKS needing 88 runs in the last 10 overs.
The onus was on Curran and Jitesh Sharma to take the game deep, but when Kuldeep removed the latter cheaply (9 runs off 9 balls), it was DC who held the upper hand, with PBKS needing 75 runs in just over eight overs.
Curran and fellow Englishman Liam Livingstone had the task of taking PBKS home and the duo, after steadying the innings at the start of their stand, made full use of the inexperienced DC death bowling to put their side in the ascendancy.
But Khaleel Ahmed made twin strikes in the 19th over, removing Curran and Shashank Singh to cause late jitters in the PBKS camp. But Livingstone held his nerve and clinched victory in the last over, with four balls to spare.
Earlier, a gem of a cameo late in the innings by Abishek Porel (32 runs off 10 balls) lifted DC to 174 for 8 in their 20 overs after Dhawan won the toss and put the visitors into bat.
The new Australian opening pair of David Warner and Mitchell Marsh got the side off to a blazing start, putting on 39 runs in three overs before the latter fell (20 runs off 12 balls) to become Arshdeep's first wicket of the day.
But Warner and IPL debutant Shai Hope maintained an excellent tempo to the innings, carting the PBKS bowlers to all parts of the stadium and putting pressure on the hosts.
However, Patel struck in his first ever over for the franchise, removing Warner (29 runs off 21 balls) to peg DC back. The responsibility of building on the foundation fell on Hope and comeback man Rishabh Pant, but when the former fell to become Kagiso Rabada's first wicket, DC were in need of a fresh impetus to their innings.
But Patel and left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar struck in two consecutive overs, with the former removing Pant (18 runs off 13 balls) and the latter taking the scalp of Ricky Bhui (3 runs off 7 balls) to leave DC in trouble 111 for 5 in the 14th over.
The stuttering innings received a late impetus courtesy Porel, who took 25 runs off the final over bowled by Patel to take DC to a respectable score.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 174 for 9 in 20 overs (Hope 33, Porel 32 not out, Arshdeep 2-28, Patel 2-47) lost to Punjab Kings 177 for 6 in 19.2 overs (Curran 64, Livingstone 38 not out) by four wickets.
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