The Punjab Kings had a forgettable day of cricket against the Delhi Capitals, losing their Tata Indian Premier League 2022 encounter by nine wickets at the Brabourne Stadium. PBKS only managed to put up 115 runs on board, which DC chased down with 57 deliveries remaining.

Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant called it right at the toss and put the Punjab Kings to bat first. PBKS captain Mayank Agarwal, back in the squad after a toe injury kept him out in the previous game, gave the team a strong start with four boundaries in his 15-ball knock of 24.

Agarwal’s hitting gave the Kings an opening partnership of 33 runs before fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan lost his wicket to Lalit Yadav in the fourth over.

From 3.4 to 6.4, Punjab lost Dhawan, Agarwal, Liam Livingstone and Jonny Bairstow to Lalit, Mustafizur, Axar and Khaleel respectively to finish the powerplay at 47/3 before sliding to 54/4.

Jitesh Sharma was then briefly successful at rebuilding the innings along with Shahrukh Khan. Sharma once more went big, scoring 32 (23) with five fours and striking at 139.13. He managed to play Kuldeep extremely late but Khan’s 20-ball 12 did not help the team’s cause at the other end. Once the duo’s 31-run stand came to an end with Sharma’s dismissal, the tail was in to bat at the start of just the 13th over.

Rahul Chahar scored a useful run-a-ball 12 to push the team to 115, a total barely enough to defend on a pitch which saw the highest score of the season being registered here only two days ago.

In response to the total, DC openers Prithvi Shaw and David Warner began with a flurry of boundaries as the team found itself sitting comfortably at 43/0 in three overs, and soon enough this duo had ushered in their fourth consecutive opening stand worth over 50 in the Tata IPL history. They finished the powerplay at 81/0.

It was only when Rahul Chahar was introduced after the powerplay that DC lost its first wicket. Shaw got down on his knee to play the slog sweep but had to fetch it from well outside-off to play it over the longest side of the field. Nathan Ellis was under it and did not let go of the opportunity, finally dismissing Shaw for 41 (20).

By this point, DC needed just 33 with more than 13 overs left. Warner and Sarfaraz Khan took the Capitals across the line exactly four overs later. Warner also brought up his third half-century in a row in this process.

Post this game, the Kings will move on to their next encounter against the Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede on 25th April.