Mohali: England pacer Sam Curran (4/11) sprung out of nowhere and bagged the first hat-trick of the ongoing IPL season to help Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) register a thrilling 14-run win over Delhi Capitals here, Monday.
Curran dismissed Harshal Patel on the final ball of the 18th over before dismissing Kagiso Rabada and Sandeep Lamichhane in the first two deliveries of the 20th over. Delhi were going nicely until Rishabh Pant’s (39, 26b, 3×4, 2×6) wicket off Mohammed Shami (2/27) changed things around for the home team.
After Pant’s dismissal, the visitors were reduced to 144/2, before some excellent bowling helped KXIP bowl DC out for 15 as the visitors lost seven wickets in 17 balls scoring only eight runs.
Chasing 167 runs to win, DC lost their in-form opener Prithvi Shaw on the first ball of their innings as home team skipper Ravi Ashwin (2/31) got the breakthrough. However, Shikhar Dhawan (30) and Shreyas Iyer (28) put on 61 runs in 7.1 overs for the second wicket before the both the batsmen got out one after the other as DC were reduced to 82/3 in 9.5 overs.
However, Pant and Colin Ingram (38, 29b, 4×4, 1×6) joined hands to take the visitors close to the target before the dramatic collapse.
Earlier, Chris Gayle’s absence at the top of the order did have an impact as KXIP could only manage a par-score of 166/9 against DC.
Save David Miller (43, 30b, 4×4, 2×6) and Sarfaraz Khan (39, 29b, 6×4), other batsmen didn’t have a good day against the trio of Chris Morris (3/30), Kagiso Rabada (2/32) and young Sandeep Lamichhane (2/27).
Morris was the pick of the bowlers, removing KXIP’s last-match hero KL Rahul (15). Sam Curran (20, 10b, 3×4, 1×6) promoted up the order did hit a couple of lusty blows but Lamichhane got him with a flipper.
Miller and Sarfaraz however didn’t get bogged down as they added 62 in 6.4 overs carrying out a recovery process from 58/3. In the end, Madeep Singh (29 n o, 21b) took the team past 160-run mark.
Brief scores: Kings XI Punjab 166/9 (David Miller 43, Sarfaraz Khan 39; Chris Morris 3/30, Sandeep Lamichhane 2/27) bt Delhi Capitals 152 (Rishabh Pant 39, Colin Ingram 38; Sam Curran 4/11, Mohammed Shami 2/27) by 14 runs.
