Xtra Time Web Desk: A swashbuckling knock from Nicholas Pooran (53 off 28) powered Kings XI Punjab to its third consecutive win in the ongoing IPL 2020. Chasing a target of 165 runs to win, KXIP comfortably reached home with one over remaining. Glenn Maxwell also showed signs of coming back to form as he scored a valuable 32 off 24 balls. It was the 69 runs partnership between Pooran and Maxwell that led the platform for a five wickets win for KXIP. The win sees KXIP leapfrog Rajasthan Royals on points table to fifth spot with 8 points from 10 matches.
It was even more pleasing for Anil Kumble coached side because they achieved the target with very little contributions from two in-form batsmen KL Rahul (15) and Mayank Agarwal (5). Chris Gayle did seem to carry from the six he hit off Trent Boult in the Super Over during Sunday’s match against Mumbai Indians. The Jamaican scored a quickfire 23 ball 29 runs that included three 4’s and two huge sixes.
He took 25 off a Tushar Deshpande over single-handedly before he was bowled by R Ashwin in the very next over. Pooran was at its best as he took 14 off the bowler’s second over before going after Marcus Stoinis similarly in the next over. By 10 overs, the 100 was already up for KXIP in the chase before Pooran got to a 27-ball fifty. Pooran’s knock included 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Earlier in the Delhi Capitals innings, Shikhar Dhawan notched up his second consecutive hundred (106 off 61 balls) which included 12 boundaries and 3 sixes. Despite of the left hander’s knock, Delhi could only manage 164/5 as none of the other batsmen got going against the Punjab bowlers.
Following the match, KXIP Captain KL Rahul said “My heart keeps reaching new limits every game but yeah it is nice to finish it in the 19th over for once. I did wonder, I won’t lie, especially when you are playing with six batsmen and an allrounder. It is something every team talks about: the set batsman has to finish off the game. One of the top four does that. We have to correct that.”
Losing captain Shreyas Iyer said, “I feel we fell 10 runs short. Nevertheless we have got a lot of learnings from this game. Shikhar batted brilliantly, that is a positive. Tushar leaked a lot of runs, but this has happened to the best of all. So he will learn a lot from him. The message from Shikhar to the new batsmen was that the wicket was stopping a little bit. I am really glad this this happened because the boys will be really motivated in the next game. The fielding wasn’t up to the mark. So we will learn from this and come back.”