KATHMANDU, May 25: Samir Rizvi scored an unbeaten half-century as Delhi Capitals defeated Punjab Kings by 6 wickets. On Saturday in Jaipur, Punjab Kings posted 206 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in their 20 overs, powered by a half-century from Shreyas Iyer.
Delhi responded by scoring 208 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 19.3 overs to win the match. Harpreet Brar took two wickets for Punjab, while Marco Jansen and Praveen Dubey took one wicket each.
With this victory, Delhi Capitals ended their campaign for the season. The win dealt a blow to Punjab's hopes of finishing in the top two. Punjab currently sits second with 17 points from 8 wins in 13 matches. They will next face the Mumbai Indians on May 26 (Monday). Delhi occupies fifth place. Gujarat Titans lead the table with 18 points, followed by RCB and Mumbai Indians in third and fourth with 17 and 16 points, respectively.
RCB beat Punjab by 7 wickets, Mumbai thrash CSK
Delhi started their chase strongly with excellent batting from KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis. The pair shared a 55-run partnership for the first wicket before Marco Jansen caught KL Rahul off Shashank Singh's bowling to break the stand. Rahul scored 35 runs off 21 balls, including 6 fours and 1 six, before getting out. Harpreet Brar then dismissed du Plessis, who made 23 runs. Sediqullah Atal followed with 22 runs before his dismissal. Karun Nair then joined Samir Rizvi at the crease.
Rizvi and Nair added 62 runs in 30 balls, but Nair got out for 44 runs before reaching his half-century. Tristan Stubbs and Rizvi then took charge and remained unbeaten, putting on a 53-run partnership that sealed Delhi's victory over Punjab. Rizvi finished not out on 58, while Stubbs remained unbeaten on 18.
Earlier, Iyer scored 53 runs off 34 balls, and Marcus Stoinis, in an explosive innings, hit four sixes and three fours to push Punjab past 200 runs. Delhi got an early breakthrough when Priyansh Arya caught wicketkeeper Tristan Stubbs off Mustafizur Rahman's short ball.
The ball flew high, and Stubbs ran back to take the catch. Josh Inglis started Delhi's innings with two fours off Mukesh Kumar's bowling, while Prabhsimran Singh hit a four off Mustafizur's delivery. Inglis then smashed a six over deep backward square leg off the left-arm pacer. Prabhsimran hit two fours off Mohit Sharma. In the final over of the powerplay, Inglis hit a six and a four off Viraj Nigam's bowling but then fell to a googly, getting stumped by Stubbs.
Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer came to the crease and opened his account with a boundary. Meanwhile, Prabhsimran hit a six off Kuldeep Yadav's first ball and troubled Nigam as well. However, Nigam ended Prabhsimran's innings in the ninth over. Iyer remained unbeaten, smashing a six off Kuldeep's ball with a slog sweep to deep midwicket.
Nigam bowled a tight tenth over. Punjab stood at 97 for 3 after 10 overs. Mustafizur Rahman got Shashank Singh caught by Stubbs. In the next over, Mukesh Kumar gave 25 runs, including two sixes, two fours, and three extras. After Mohit Sharma caught Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav sent him back to the pavilion. Earlier, Mohit had dropped a catch off Stoinis, who scored 22 runs in his over.
