IPL 2024, PBKS vs DC: Delhi’s loopholes exposed as Sam Curran carries Punjab home

IPL 2024, PBKS vs DC: Delhi Capitals’ loopholes exposed as Sam Curran carries Punjab Kings home. Poor batting, Ishant’s injury cost Delhi Capitals opening game.

Punjab Kings (PBKS) began their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 campaign against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the new Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh. In 33 meetings in this league between them, Punjab inched over Delhi with a head-to-head figure of 17-16.

PBKS’s skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and decided to bowl first. After a mind-blowing start of 33/0 in three overs, Delhi kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Impact substitute Abhishek Porel’s special knock of unbeaten 32 runs in 10 balls propelled the Capitals to 174/9 in their 20 overs.

Punjab lost their way after a good start with wickets at regular intervals. But Sam Curran (63), coming at number four stood till the end to carry them over the line with four wickets in hand.

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Brief Scores: PBKS 177/6 (Curran 63, Livingstone 38*, Kuldeep 2/32) beat DC 174/9 (Hope 33, Porel 32*, Arshdeep 2/28) by 4-wkts.

Key Takeaways from PBKS vs DC, Match 2, IPL 2024

Delhi need to work on their batting order

One of the main issues behind their ninth-rank finish in the last season was the poor run of form of their top-order. They started this brand-new season on the same note. From a good position of 74/1, the Capitals lost their next seven wickets for just 73 runs. David Warner (28) looked a bit rusty, as their captain Rishabh Pant, who was making his return to the game since the freakish accident was trying to get into his groove. 

Shai Hope, someone who is not famous for his hard hitting didn’t look to be a good option at number three. Axar Patel, the second-highest run-scorer for DC in the last season with 283 runs, too perished early in an aim to get quick runs. One of the most surprising decisions from the management was to leave Prithvi Shaw under the sheds. He could have come at number 5 rather than at seven and stayed till the end. 

There wasn’t much expectation from Ricky Bhui (3) and Sumit Kumar (2) to offer the Capitals a powerful finish. They ended the last season at number 9 and gained their first victory on their sixth encounter. To avoid such circumstances, the runners-up of IPL 2020 need to work on their batting order. 

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Lack of quality bowling and Curran’s catch drop hurt Delhi

Delhi missed Ishant Sharma early in the innings. The veteran left the field in the sixth over with an ankle injury. This breaks the balance of Delhi’s bowling. Mitchell Marsh was forced to come and bowl in the death. He went for 18 runs in the 15th over, as Khaleel Ahmed too looked dodgy in the middle overs. Except for Kuldeep Yadav (2/20), the Capitals lacked some quality in their bowling department. 

Sam Curran was batting beautifully and looked to take Punjab to victory. In the last over of Kuldeep Yadav, the left-hand England batter went for a straight shot. Tristian Stubbs dropped the low catch. That was the turning point of the game. But with such a quality death bowler, Curran took full advantage of it and took them home with a 63-run knock.

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Variety in Punjab’s bowling combination

Punjab Kings displayed variety in their bowling combination. Two left-handed pacers, Sam Curran and Arshdeep Singh began with the new ball. Kagiso Rabada followed it up, while Harshal Patel came up with his slower balls to fox the batters at the death. Even in the spin department, they had the luxury of Harpreet Brar’s left-arm spin and leg-spinner Rahul Chahar. 

Punjab made a great comeback after their horrible bowling in the power play. Harshal gifted them the vital wicket of Warner, while Pant found the backward point fielder of Brar’s bowling. Hope nailed Rabada for a six but found the cover fielder on the very next delivery. 

The advantage for Shikhar Dhawan as a captain was to use his bowlers at any phase of the game. Arshdeep came up to dry runs at the death overs. Harshal went for 25 runs in the 20th over, but till that point, it was so tough to read his slower balls. They will look to continue this quality of bowling as the season progresses. 

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