Sensational knock of the Delhi Capitals (DC) opener, Shikhar Dhawan, who amassed 92 off 49 balls helped his team to defeat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 6 wickets with 10 balls to spare. Winning the toss, Rishabh Pant asked KL Rahul and his men to bat first, but DC bowlers gave away a lot of runs as Mayank Agarwal came out all guns blazing. Lukman Meriwala, on IPL debut, gave away 20 run s in his first over. Getting into the rhythm with a massive over, Agarwal barely looked back, while he attacked every bowler with equal disregard.
On the other hand, KL Rahul found it difficult to get going as he was striking below 100. Having got to his half-century in just 25 balls, Mayank unleashed a brutal hitting exhibition against one of the better bowlers in the league, Kagiso Rabada, smashing him for no less than three sixes in the 11th over, which produced 20. Things seemed entirely out of Capitals’ reach during the 122-run opening partnership. Having played the perfect foil to Agarwal in a partnership that lasted 12.4 overs, Rahul pressed the accelerator against Avesh Khan but eventually perished against Rabada removed him in the 15th.
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Even, Chris Gayle failed to get going as he was dismissed by his namesake Woakes. Nicholas Pooran did manage to break his streak of ducks but failed to enter into double-digits as Rabada grabbed him at point off Avesh Khan. The quick cameos from Deepak Hooda and Punjab’s lone warrior against CSK, Shahrukh Khan, did take them to 195, but the Capitals seemed the happy side at the halfway mark, as they had managed to restrict the opponents for much lesser than what seemed a given at one stage.
DC openers made the most of the dew as Prithvi Shaw punished Mohammad Shami with a couple of glorious strokes. He took on Jhye Richardson to signal that something big was on the cards but eventually perished against Arshdeep Singh. Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan had warmed himself up by picking consecutive fours off Shami’s second over.
While Agarwal’s stroke-play was brutal, Shikhar Dhawan played some elegant strokes. He punished anything that was even marginally short of a length, and brought up his fifty in 10th over, Dhawan mowed Richardson over deep square leg for a maximum to announce his intentions. He scored 38 off the 48 he added alongside Smith, a partnership that was broken by Riley Meredith.
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Dhawan accelerated in serious style, smacking Shami for a six before notching up a hat-trick of fours off Meredith in the 13th over. With a century in his eyesight, Dhawan was cleaned up in an attempt to work Richardson past square leg, as the ball rammed into his stumps. Shikhar fell 8 runs short of his century but he had put his team in the driver’s seat. DC did lose Rishabh Pant towards the end of the innings, although Marcus Stoinis, scoring an unbeaten 27 off just 13, ensured that Dhawan’s toil did not go in vain.
Here is how netizens reacted to DC’s win:
Shikhar Dhawan is a classic example of how to maintain a good strike rate without taking undue risks. A great learning example for many players who get bogged down. This 92 Was a Champion knock @SDhawan25 , showing how it is done.#DCvsPBKS pic.twitter.com/882DZ19Dwr
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) April 18, 2021
Brilliant once again from @SDhawan25 how good he has been in the history of ipl? Too good. Well done #dc on convincing victory.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 18, 2021
'Gabbar' may have missed a ton but what an innings under pressure. Well chased @DelhiCapitals #dhawan @SDhawan25 #dcvspbks #pbksvsdc
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) April 18, 2021
It’s easy to see where Punjab lost this game. Be interesting to see if their think tank addresses it. #pbksvsdc
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 18, 2021
Ditto for Dhawan 😍😍😍😍#IPL2021 #dcvspbks https://t.co/bXitdzgZZ0
— Rohan Gavaskar (@rohangava9) April 18, 2021
Delhi batsmen are very friendly. They made sure KL Rahul got his birthday bumps.
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) April 18, 2021
Time for KL Rahul to rethink especially when you have Hooda, Shahrukh Khan showing some good signs in last few matches and send Pooran at 4.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 18, 2021
Kl rahul is biggest statpadder of IPL 🙂✌
Change my mind if you can 🙂😎— A.V.17 (@srcastic_losr07) April 18, 2021
