Shreyas Iyer makes the most of his good fortune to pull off a record chase, after Arya and Prabhsimran set it up. Kuldeep’s moment of magic went in vain.
must thank his stars. Dropped catches are part of the game, but he must consider himself particularly fortunate on Saturday. This is not to take anything away from his explosive batting and calibrated hitting — the captain with a swagger led from the front with an unbeaten : 265 with seven balls to spare and six wickets in hand.
But the outcome could have been different had held his catches.
Nair, who came on as a substitute for the injured Lungi Ngidi, started well — taking a well-judged catch off Nehal Wadhera at the long-on boundary. Punjab were 201 for 4 at that point and the match hinged on what Iyer could produce. But three balls later, Nair’s day turned gloomy.
In a game where 529 runs were scored, 33 sixes and 49 fours were hit, Nair dropped Iyer twice. First, he dropped a straightforward chance offered by Iyer at long-off — Iyer was on 28 off 20 at the time. In the very next over, Kuldeep had bowled a wrong ‘un to make Iyer mistime a lofted shot. Nair at long-off dropped a sitter.
Iyer gave a sheepish smile before putting on his match face to make it a one-sided contest from there on.
Kuldeep was swatted for consecutive sixes on the on-side. Natarajan was smashed over extra cover and deep square leg. Iyer was on 35 off 22 when Nair dropped him a second time. His next 36 runs came off just 14 balls.
𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 🔥🔥
Red-hot register the Highest Successful Run-Chase in history ❤️
Captain Shreyas Iyer remained unbeaten on 7⃣1⃣ to see his side over the line 🫡
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If there is a side one can call a juggernaut, fits the description. They have chased 200-plus scores twice and eased home at the Wankhede chasing 195 with seven wickets to spare. Unbeaten in six completed games and perched at the top of the , the Kings are the team to beat. But were not ready to roll over at their home ground.
After electing to bat, and Nitesh Rana added 220 runs for the second wicket in just 95 balls, leaving Punjab’s bowlers scratching their heads. Delhi’s best partnership for any wicket — and the second highest across teams in IPL history — was built at the Stadium, a relatively compact ground. Rahul’s unbeaten 152 off 67 balls and Rana’s destructive 91 off 44 had given their side what seemed a defendable total. But never say never in this era of crazy six-hitting.
What followed after the break was pure mayhem. Ranji Trophy’s highest wicket-taker and J&K’s fast-bowling star Aquib Nabi is new to the IPL but would have quickly learned that respect for bowlers is non-existent in this format.
Priyansh Arya, a young gun, wasted no time. Nabi’s first ball was pulverised into the mid-wicket stand for a six. The last ball of the first over was pulled over deep midwicket by Prabhsimran Singh. The big-hitting was starting to get infectious.
Fifteen runs from the first over made Punjab’s intention clear — they were going for the kill. Test-capped Mukesh Kumar got no respite. Twenty-one runs came off the second over, Prabhsimran hitting a six and a four, Arya flicking an attempted yorker over mid-wicket for a six.
Took the “Power” in Powerplay literally 🔥
The Prabhyansh show that saw pull off a world record chase 👏
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The Punjab openers then dealt only in sixes for a while — six of them in nine balls pushed the run rate past 11 an over. Then came the over Mukesh would rather forget: six fours from six balls by Prabhsimran in the sixth over, and the chase was well and truly on.
Delhi skipper got the first breakthrough when Arya’s attempted pull was caught by Sameer Rizvi. Left-arm wrist spinner then put the brakes on the chase. He was fortunate that Prabhsimran swung and missed, trapped LBW. But the googly to left-handed Connolly in his next over was a beauty — turning into the batsman who went for a cover drive only to see his stumps shattered. Kuldeep gave away just four runs in the 10th over. Delhi had taken three wickets in four overs to shift the momentum.
The pitch had slowed, batsmen, even Iyer had mistimed a couple of shots. Axar conceded just four runs in his 13th over. Punjab were going at 12.57 an over, but the asking rate was climbing towards 14.
In leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam, Delhi had a third frontline spinner to call on. For a moment, it felt like the game was in the balance. Then Nair dropped Iyer a second time. In that same over, Kuldeep conceded 23 runs. Talk about rubbing salt into wounds. Kuldeep walked off kicking his glasses along the grass. That image summed up Delhi’s day.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 264/2 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 152 not out, Nitish Rana 99) lost to Punjab Kings 265/4 in 18.5 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 76, Shreyas Iyer 71 not out; Kuldeep Yadav 2/46) by six wickets.
