Punjab Kings, who are struggling to keep their playoff hopes alive in IPL 2023, have got some relief. Punjab, captained by Shikhar Dhawan, defeated Delhi Capitals by 31 runs on the basis of a memorable century by Prabhsimran Singh (103). Along with this, Dhawan's team has also contributed to making the playoff race more interesting while returning to the winning track. At the same time, Delhi became the first team to be eliminated from the playoff race.

Image Credit: BCCI

To keep the playoff hopes alive, it was necessary for Delhi to win today, while this win was also necessary for Punjab. However, even if Punjab had lost, there would have been some chance for it in the next matches. But the defeat of Delhi closed all its doors. She has only 8 points from 12 matches and she can reach only 12 points.

Warner's explosive start

Bad batting became the reason for this defeat of Delhi, but it would be better to see it as the best bowling of Punjab spinners than the bad batting of Delhi. In response to the target of 168 runs from Punjab, Delhi started with a bang. Especially Captain David Warner appeared in explosive style for the first time this season. Along with Phil Salt, he took the team to 65 runs without losing a wicket in the powerplay itself.

Batsmen trapped in the trap of Brar-Chahar

Meanwhile, Warner completed his half-century in just 23 balls, but the sequence that started from the seventh over decided Delhi's defeat. Harpreet Brar, the left-arm spinner who destroyed Delhi, started it. In the seventh over, he bowled Phil Salt and by the 11th over, the top 6 batsmen of Delhi's batting order had returned to the pavilion.

Brar and leg-spinner Rahul Chahar together destroyed Delhi's top and middle order. Brar took the wickets of Riley Russo and David Warner in the same over, while Rahul Chahar ended the hopes by dismissing Akshar Patel LBW. After this, the lower order only reduced the margin of defeat. Delhi scored only 136 runs in 20 overs losing 8 wickets.

Prabhasimran stood alone, scored a strong century

Before the spinners, Prabhsimran Singh got the Punjab Kings back. Within the powerplay, Punjab had lost the wickets of captain Dhawan, Liam Livingston, and Jitesh Sharma. Ishant dealt with Dhawan and Livingston, while Jitesh was dismissed by Akshar Patel. Despite this, Prabhsimran Singh remained firm from one end. After a slow start on a spin-assisted pitch, he increased the pace of runs.

Apart from this 22-year-old batsman, no other Punjab batsman could play big innings. Sam Curran supported him by staying for some time. There was an important partnership of 72 runs between the two, in which Karan's contribution was only 20 runs. Then came the 18th over, in which Prabhasimran completed his first IPL century. He was dismissed for 103 runs in the 19th over and laid the foundation for Punjab to reach a score of 167.