In the 59th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Punjab Kings (PBKS) beat Delhi Capitals (DC) by 31 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. With this win, PBKS secured their sixth win, keeping themselves alive in contention for the playoffs.
DC skipper David Warner won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. Punjab’s batters were not looking comfortable, apart from Prabhsimran Singh who scored a fantastic ton, which helped PBKS to score 167/7 runs in their 20 overs.
While chasing, the Delhi-based team started off well, as both the openers Warner (54) and Phillip Salt (21) stitched an opening partnership of 69 runs before the English batter got dismissed in the seventh over by Harpreet Brar, and then after the first wicket, the home side’s batting order fell like a pack of cards and lost their momentum that they had in the powerplay. After the 20 overs, Delhi could be able to score 136/8 in the 20 overs.
The Mohali-based team were right on the money with the ball, as the spin-duo of Harpreet and Rahul Chahar delivered scintillating spells, as both of them secured four and two wickets respectively. Nathan Ellis also scalped two wickets as well.
In the first innings, PBKS did not have a great start, Shikhar Dhawan (7) got out in the second over by Ishant Sharma, but Prabhsimran (103) who scored his maiden IPL ton, started to retaliate after the first wicket with some counter-attacking shots, but the wickets were continuously falling from another end. The 22-year-old batter build 72 runs partnership with Sam Curran (20) that helped the 2014 finalist to consolidate the innings to an above-par total of 167 runs.
With the ball, Ishant was the leading-wicket taker in the DC setup, as he got two wickets, whereas Axar Patel, Praveen Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mukesh Kumar secured one wicket each.
Prabhsimran Singh was adjudged Player of the Match for his innings of 103 runs, which had 10 fours and six sixes.
Scorecard:
Punjab Kings: 167/7, Overs 20, Prabhsimran Singh 103, Ishant Sharma 2/27
Delhi Capitals: 136/8, Overs 20, David Warner 54, Harpreet Brar 4/30