Dubai: Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) continued their winning run Tuesday keeping alive their play-off hopes alive this season in IPL. They spoiled Shikhar Dhawan’s (106 n o, 61b, 12×4, 3×6) historic innings scripting a five-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals.
Dhawan became the first batsman to score back-to-back hundreds in the IPL. However, Nicolas Pooran (53, 28b, 6×4, 3×6) played a blitzkrieg of a knock to help KXIP register their third successive win. With this win, KXIP rose to fifth with eight points in their kitty.
Chasing a modest 165, KXIP dealt with a huge blow when they lost their in-form skipper KL Rahul (15) in the third over off Axar Patel (1/27). Then Chris Gayle (29, 13b, 3×4, 2×6) played a cameo before perishing off a Ravichandran Ashwin (1/27) delivery. Mayank Agarwal too got out following a mix-up with Pooran while searching for a quick single. With this, KXIP were reduced to 56/3 in 5.5 overs.
However, Pooran took the onus and took his team past 100-run barrier with the help of Glenn Maxwell (32, 24b, 3×4), who played second fiddle to the West Indian. Later, Deepak Hooda (15 n o) and Jimmy Nisham (10 n o) completed the job with an over to spare. Kagiso Rabada (2/27) was the standout among the DC bowlers.
Earlier, Dhawan’s sensational effort took DC to 164/5. It seemed he was batting on a different surface with the second highest score of the innings coming from skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, who made 14 each.
KXIP bowled well at the back end of the innings to restrict DC to below 180 with lead pacer Mohammed Shami (2/28) being the stand out performer.
The southpaw crossed the 5,000-run mark in the IPL by sweeping leggie Ravi Bishnoi for a six over deep square-leg, becoming the fifth batsmen to do so in the tournament’s history.
Brief scores: DC 164/5 (Shikhar Dhawan 106 n o; Mohammed Shami 2/28) lost to KXIP 167/5 (Nicolas Pooran 53, Glenn Maxwell 32; Kagiso Rabada 2/27) by 5 wickets.
