Tribune News Service
Mohali, April 1
Kings XI Punjab romped to their second consecutive win at home, and third win overall, when Delhi Capitals suffered a bizarre brainfade to lose a match they had controlled for 36.3 out of the total 40 overs.
Delhi Capitals went from 144/3 to 152 all out, losing seven wickets for eight runs off 16 balls, to go down by 14 runs. Sam Curran picked up a hat-trick to finish with 4/11 off 2.2 overs, after Mohammed Shami had started the slide by removing Rishabh Pant and Chris Morris in the 17th over.
Their third win puts KXIP jointly on top of the IPL standings table with Chennai Super Kings, who have played one match lesser.
Losing control
With only four overs to be bowled, Delhi Capitals were in complete control at 137/3, requiring only 30 off the final 24 balls. When Pant hit the third ball of the 17th over, bowled by Mohammed Shami, for a six, a wave of joy swept through the Delhi dugout — only 23 needed off 21 balls. But next ball, Pant tried to hit another big shot, across the line, missed it and was bowled. More drama followed — the new batsman, Chris Morris, was run-out first ball, after hitting it straight to Ravichandran Ashwin at mid-off and attempting a run.
Still, needing 23 off 18 balls, Delhi Capitals were in with a good chance... which rapidly disappeared when Sam Curran bowled out Colin Ingram for 38 (29 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) on the fourth ball of the 18th over. Ingram had attempted to heave the ball over the long-off boundary but only managed to find Karun Nair. Sixth ball of the same over, new batsman Harshal Patel tried to hit the ball down the leg side, only managed to strike it with his bat’s leading edge, and the ball went right up and was caught by wicketkeeper KL Rahul. When Hanuma Vihari fell, bowled by Shami in the 19th over, it was all over bar the shouting. But Curran provided the final triumph for his team by taking out Kagiso Rabada and Sandeep Lamichhane off the first two balls of the 20th over to complete a remarkable night’s work.
No Gayle
Kings XI Punjab had put up a modest 166/9 courtesy David Miller (43 off 30 balls), Sarfaraz Khan (39 off 29) and Mandeep Singh (29 off 21). The home team had left out opener Chris Gayle, their highest scorer in the tournament so far, due to an injury issue.
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