Oh..Boy..Oh..Boy.What a finish…Stoinis and Rabada Heroics helped Delhi Capitals to beat Kings XI Punjab in Super Over and grab first win of the season.Delhi now sits in second place of the table behind Chennai Super Kings with 2 points.
It’s just a second Match of the 2020 IPL season, but thrilling Super over finish between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab felt like an Knock-out game already. The Match had all the ingredients to label as a typical IPL Classic match between two evenly matched sides.
Both sides finished the game with Exact score of 157/8 in 20 overs leading to a super over for deciding the outcome of the game. KINGS XI’s fight back lasted just three ball into the Super Over, as the team lost both the wickets for just 2 runs. Pant and Shreyas took care of business for Delhi by achieving the target in three balls.
How it Happened?
Punjab’s captain KL Rahul won the toss and chose to bowl in his first IPL game as captain. There were few new faces in Delhi Capitals starting XI making IPL debut for the team. South African, Anrich Nortje joins fellow country man Rabada in the bowling attack. Ashwin, Hetmyer, Stoinis and Mohit Sharma were the others to play their first game in DC colours, with Ashwin playing against his former outfit for the first time.
Delhi off to a shaky start , first three batsmen(Shaw,Dhawan and Hetmyer) went to pavilion in just 4 overs for 13 runs before captain Iyer and Pant’s partnership of 73 runs in 10 overs studied the ship.
Both set batsmen dismissed by Punjab bowlers is consecutive deliveries. Australian Marcus Stoinis put on a show with bat to give some meaningful total to take fight on opposition for Delhi. Stoinis quick blast of 53 runs in just 21 balls ( 7 fours and three sixes) helped Delhi to put a 158 target in-front of Kings XI.
Kings XI Punjab opening bowling pair Mohammed Shami and Cottrell had a nice game with the ball. Shami finished his 4 over spell by claiming three wickets for 15 runs and Cottrell finished game 2/24 in 4 overs.
Contrast to Delhi, Punjab Openers made a good start (30 partnership in 4.3 overs) before losing four wickets for just five runs including Captain KL Rahul( 21 runs in 19 balls).
Mayank Agarwal alone almost won the match for Punjab, his knock of 89 runs of 60 balls (7 fours and 4 sixes) tied the game with 3 balls to play. But Unexpected twist cost Punjab the game. Both Mayank & Jordon gave away their wickets for full toss balls.
South African fast bowler KG Rabada bowled exceptionally well for Delhi in both Super Over and regular spell. He finished his 4 overs for 2/28 before taking 2 wickets in super over for 2 runs. Ashwin who injured his Shoulder bowled 1 over and claimed two important wickets for just 2 runs.
Post-match comments :
M Stoinis, Player of The Match:
“It’s a weird game, isn’t it? Sometimes the luck goes your way but you can easily go from hero to villain. You just try and feed on everyone’s energy. It’s nice that the IPL’s got going again. We were nervous for a bit. Didn’t think there’d be a Super Over tonight.”
Shreyas Iyer, Captain of Delhi Capitals:
“It was so difficult to stand out there. I would like to say that we’re used to this – even last season. Kagiso is a gamechanger for us. If you see out top order batsmen, it’s difficult to stop them when they get going, so it’s difficult to tell them not to. There was grass on the pitch and it was moving and we discovered that in 3-4 overs. I wouldn’t give the lights as the reason for poor catching.”
“But that’s not the reason because we got one session to train here under the lights. It was really important for us to get wickets because the total was small. Back of my mind I knew that if I save KG’s overs for the end, it’ll work out. Credit to Ashwin, he almost changed the game in that over. It’s up to the physio but Ashwin said he is available for the next game. “
“It was really gutsy of [Axar] to lead the team in that area. It’s good to know in the back of mind that I have an extra spinner who can pick it up. [Super Over combo] we usualy go left-rigth combination, it becomes difficult for the bowler.”
K Rabada, Super over Bowler:
“There’ll always be nerves for me no matter how long I play when things get tight. Luckily it came off today. [Super Over thought process] It just depends what works for me on the day and just getting a feel for what might work as well. Today it was just mixing the lengths up and it worked. There’s decent bounce in this wicket, and the boundaries are quite big. So it’ll take a bit to clear it. So I backed myself. [The Jordan catch] I just stuck my hand out. The ball before I was moved into the position so credit to him. It was just a reaction catch.”
KL Rahul:
“It is bittesrsweet. At the end of 10 overs I would have taken the Super Over. We wish to learn from our mistakes and build as a team. Mayank was unbelievable. to get the game that close is a magical effort. That is the type of innings we expect from someone like him.”
“Nice to see him bring his confidence to the IPL. Obviously this gets the group closer. Like I said at the toss, we didn’t really know what to expect of the pitch. Didn’t think it would be sticky, but both teams got 150+. [Captaincy] I’d gladly take it as a captain, most important is the effort. We made a few mistakes, but that’s a learning for the group. If you saw the dressing room, even at 55 for 5 it was a calm dressing room.”
