New Delhi [India]: Prabhsimran Singh and brave Harpreet Brar set the stage on fire as they powered Punjab Kings to a win over Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Arun Jaitley stadium.
Prabhsimran smashed his maiden IPL ton (103 off 65) to propel PBKS to a competitive total of 167/7. Harpreet Brar then ripped through the DC batting line-up with 4/30 as a lethal bowling performance from PBKS saw them restrict the home side to 136/8 and win the match by 31 runs. Delhi Capitals were knocked out of the competition courtesy of the loss while PBKS moved to sixth in the table courtesy of the win. Chasing 168, Delhi Capitals got off to a fast start courtesy of David Warner and Phil Salt. David Warner got going off the first ball itself, cracking a pull-through mid-wicket for a four. He then slapped one through backward point for two fours in a row.
Phil Salt then got into the groove cracking a couple of fours off Harpreet Brar as the pair accumulated 13 off the over. The boundary flow didn’t stop as the duo hit a total of 11 fours and a six inside the Powerplay to take DC to 65/0 at the end of the first six overs.
Brar finally provided the breakthrough as he came back strong to clean up Salt (21 off 17). Warner then brought up his 60th IPL fifty, off just 23 balls but soon he saw Mitchell Marsh depart at the other end as he was trapped LBW by Rahul Chahar. It all started going downhill for Delhi Capitals from then on.
The home side lost another wicket to a spinner as Rilee Rossouw mistimed his heave straight to deep mid-wicket off Brar. The left-arm spinner provided a huge moment in the game five balls later as he had David Warner (54 off 27) trapped LBW. The DC captain reviewed it but the ball tracker showed all three reds. The next ball saw Axar walk back as he was trapped LBW by Rahul Chahar. He too opted for a review but The onfield decision stayed as the ball was clipping leg stump – umpire’s call.
Brar then scalped his fourth as he cleaned up Impact Player Manish Pandey with a beauty. DC went from 74/1 to 88/6 in three overs. Aman Khan and Praveen Dubey then steadied the ship with a 30-run stand but with the required run rate creeping up, Aman (16 off 18) departed, holing out to deep mid-wicket, off Impact Player Nathan Ellis who had replaced centurion Prabhsimran Singh at the start of the second innings. It was always going to be an uphill task from then on and DC eventually fell short by 31 runs.
Put to bat, PBKS did not get the ideal start as they lost wickets in the early stage of the innings. Punjab’s skipper Shikhar Dhawan returned to the dressing room in the 1.2 over when Ishant Sharma took his wicket.
In the 5th over, Ishant Sharma again got the breakthrough for DC, this time Liam Livingstone got dismissed at just four runs. Axar Patel then picked Jitesh Sharma in the next over.
After the end of the powerplay, PKBS were at 46/3. Prabhsimran Singh 21 * off 20 balls and Sam Curran 1* off one ball.
The duo Curran and Prabhsimran tried to do the damage control. They build 50 runs partnership for the 4th wicket which gave little relief to the troubled PBKS batting.
Prabhsimran clinched a brilliant fifty in 42 balls. Punjab’s 100-run mark came at 13.1 overs.
Curran was dismissed in the 14.4 overs by Praveen Dubey at 20 off 24 balls.
Kuldeep Yadav took the scalp of Harpreet Brar in the 16.1 over. He scored just two runs.
Wickets were falling from one end, but Prabhsimran kept his attacking game on. He clinched a blistering maiden IPL century in just 62 balls.
Prabhsimran’s outstanding innings ended in the penultimate over when Mukesh Kumar got him at the leg stump. In the last over, Khaleel Ahmed dismissed Shahrukh Khan, PBKS posted 167/7 in 20 overs.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 136/8 (David Warner 54(27), Philip Salt 21(17) and Harpreet Brar 4/30) vs Punjab Kings and Punjab Kings 167/6 (Prabhsimran Singh 103, Sam Curran 20, Ishant Sharma 2/27) vs Delhi Capitals.
