IPL 2021 | PBKS vs DC: Hits and Flops as dominant Capitals trounce dismal Kings

A valiant 99 not out from Mayank Agarwal was not enough to prevent a thumping victory for the Delhi Capitals on the 29th game of the Indian Premier League hosted in the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Sunday victory meant that Delhi Capitals moved to the top of the table with 12 points from 8 games while Punjab Kings sunk further in the ongoing edition.

Chasing a modest target of 166 runs on a relatively easier surface to bat, the Capitals came hunting the new ball bowlers once again as the opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw showed intent at the top of the order.

The Capitals have emerged as a side to beat in the ongoing edition of the IPL but on the other hand, the Kings have suffered due to lack of intent in the early part of the tournament followed by inconsistency in both batting and bowling departments.

Here, we’ll analyse the best and the worst of the performances from the game between the Punjab Kings and the Delhi Capitals.

Hits

Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal had missed the Kings’ last game due to an impact injury but little did he know that he would have to return as the captain of the team in the very next game with KL Rahul being diagnosed with acute appendicitis.

KL Rahul has not only been their skipper but also their best batsman for several seasons in the tournament and hence his loss could have been huge for Kings’ prospect in the game.

Mayank Agarwal had the task cut out for him and the start of the Punjab innings did nothing to help him in that regard. Rookie Prabhsimran Singh wasted too many deliveries upfront, an act that led to Mayank facing just 9 balls in the six-over powerplay. 

The Kings were so horrible in the powerplay that could muster only 18 runs in the first four overs before Chris Gayle attempted to break the shackles.

After Rabada got the better of Gayle, Rishabh Pant employed the off-spin of Lalit Yadav to counter Dawid Malan, playing his first match in the cash-rich league. Instead, he offered two half volleys to Mayank, but thankfully for the Capitals, only one of them was dispatched to the boundary.

Agarwal could not find a boundary for 14 balls after the one he hit against Yadav but he kept the scoreboard ticking with quick singles and doubles. However, as Malan departed after a sluggish innings, the onus was completely on Mayank’s shoulder if the Kings were to have any chance of reaching a big score.

The turn around happened in the 15th over when Rabada got lured into test his throat and pitched the ball short. Mayank pounded on the opportunity and deposited the ball over the square leg fence to make it a 12-run over. 

The next over from Sharma turned out to be more productive than the previous over by Rabada as Mayank first nudged a ball going down the leg side for a boundary to reach his fifty and then smacked him over long-off to announce the end of his struggle at the crease. He doubled down on his method in the next over as well as finding exquisite placement on the first two deliveries off Axar Patel.

Avesh Khan clogged back the momentum in the 18th over giving away just four runs and eliminating Shahrukh Khan. The Kings were just 132/5 at the end of the 18th over albeit Mayank batting with a strike rate of 148 at that point in time.

Mayank had to ensure the Kings reached a fighting total and he welcomed Rabada with a brutal hit over long-off. The pacer was successful in limiting the boundary to only the six on the first ball but could not Agarwal from making it an 11-run over.

Then, it was Avesh Khan against Mayank in a near-showdown and the Kings stand-in skipper plundered 23 runs in the last over to make sure the Kings reach a safe target.

Agarwal could not bring up his century and fell short at unbeaten 99 but he did not fall short of leading by example and brought up the second-highest score for a captain on debut in the IPL after Sanju Samson’s century earlier this year.

Axar Patel

The Capitals fielded a playing XI including three pacers while the spin department was in the hands of Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav.

Pant bowled one over of Marcus to get a leeway of not having to bowl four overs of Yadav while all other bowlers such as Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma and Avesh Khan bowled their complete quota over overs. All of the pacers bowled with economy rates in excess of nine runs per over but the Capitals were successful in preventing the Kings from running away with the game.

The role of a squeezer was well done by Axar Patel with his tidy, stump to stump bowling. Although he got under the radar of Mayank Agarwal but showed good signs of control while bowling under pressure to yield only 21 runs from his four overs.

Also, he pulled a strong punch on the Kings batting line up when he ended the misery of Dawid Malan just when he started looking nearing his best. His departure set the Kings back in the middle phase and although Mayank Agarwal batted heroically in the end overs, the Kings could not post a score that the Capitals could have come under pressure while chasing.

Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan has been batting with remarkable form and control in the IPL starting last season and the story has not changed one bit in the ongoing season, except that he has been the junior partner in the opening partnership with Prithvi Shaw.

Shaw has been going all guns blazing but that has not stopped Dhawan from taking the game head-on in a calculative manner and picking his targets and small goals.

Chasing 167 runs against the Kings, the Capitals were already on a roll with Shaw going berserk once again, but Dhawan was the strong man standing resolutely at the other end. However, when Mohammed Shami offered him two opportunities in the fourth over, he pounced on both of them, first with a crunching punch off the back foot past point and then through a drive through the off side on the last ball.

The Capitals were mooting along at 63/0 by the end of powerplay but Shaw departed right at the start of the seventh over. The next man in Steve Smith has been in a dominant position with the bat as Shaw and Dhawan was aware of the task of transforming himself into an enforcer to support Smith and keeping the scoreboard ticking.

He got stuck into leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi and took him for a couple of six and boundary to suck the life out of the Kings bowling attack. 

He remained not out and led the team with another win in the 14th edition of the IPL and he is capitalizing on his best form and not wasting it one but by getting carried away with it.

Flops

Dawid Malan

Dawid Malan came into the IPL 2021 with the tag of being the number one batsman in the international T20s attached with him. However, his credentials did not fit well with the team combination at the Punjab Kings who could not give up on either Chris Gayle or Nicholas Pooran.

However, KL Rahul’s medical condition turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the left-hander in the game against the Delhi Capitals. However, he was not helped by the Kings team management as he was held back to the number four position behind Prabhsimran Singh and Gayle and could come out to bat only in the last over of the powerplay.

Rishabh Pant had fresh memories of Englishmen struggling against the spin of Axar Patel and R Ashwin and used the same tactic to put the squeeze on Malan and did not allow him any breathing space.

He was struggling to time the ball and was not going anywhere with just 11 runs from the first 17 balls but found room against Ishant Sharma and attempted to break free. 

By the time, Axar Patel returned with his second spell, Malan thought of taking the game to the left armer and lost his leg stump after any abysmal innings that derailed any chance of Kings’ resurgence in the game.

Mohammed Shami

Mohammed Shami has returned to competitive cricket after a long time in the IPL itself and it looks like he is far away from his best rhythm.

In the game against the Capitals, he had to get the early breakthrough as otherwise, the dominant opening batsmen of the Capitals would have run away with the game. 

Shami was erratic in his line and length and allowed Dhawan easy boundary options early on and conceded as many as 24 runs by the end of the fourth over.

He lost Mayank’s confidence and was brought back only in the 15th over as the Kings banked on Pant’s approach of taking a risk and hence getting opportunities to get him out and come back in the game. Shami faltered once again and both Pant and Dhawan took 13 runs off him to stamp Capitals’ authority on the game.

The Capitals marched on to a seamless win over the Punjab Kings and consolidate their position at the top of the points table with six wins out of eight matches played so far.

The Kings sunk further on the points table with only three wins in an equal number of matches to that of the Capitals, and with KL Rahul set to miss at least the next few matches, the journey looks doomed and gloomy for the Kings with a revamped name.