Marsh stars again as Capitals beat Punjab
Aussie hits second half-century in a row to help Delhi register 17-run win and keep playoff hopes alive
NAVI MUMBAI: It was rather symbolic that Liam Livingstone was almost halfway down the pitch after misreading Kuldeep Yadav’s googly by the time Rishabh Pant stumped him. Just a while earlier on the same sluggish pitch, Livingstone had picked up three wickets with his all-variety spin.
On a DY Patil Stadium pitch offering turn for spinners, Punjab Kings crumbled in their quest of Delhi Capitals’ (DC) 159/7, which was largely down to a responsible 48-ball 63 from Mitchell Marsh. Punjab lacked a similar sheet anchor at the top and went down by 17 runs although they had a fighting 44 by No 6 Jitesh Sharma. Delhi, with two wins on the bounce for the first time this season, remain well in IPL playoffs contention with Punjab hanging by the thinnest of threads.
Punjab’s chase had at least one boundary in each of the first six overs but they also lost three wickets, incidentally all to pacers. Jonny Bairstow was caught pulling Anrich Nortje in the fourth over while Shardul Thakur got the double breakthrough of Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Shikhar Dhawan in the sixth.
At 54/3, the need of the hour for Punjab was a steady partnership. However, Mayank Agarwal was castled by an Axar Patel straighter one before the on-song Livingstone couldn’t hold himself back as Punjab lost more than half of their batters before the midway stage. Sharma stitched things up with a mature knock that had three fours, two sixes and provided a dash of hope that ended when, with 37 needed off 15 balls, he hit a Thakur slower ball to longoff.
Incidentally, it was Punjab who were off the blocks with the ball thanks to Livingstone. David Warner—with a last-moment switch to take strike— played an expansive drive to a ball outside off to backward point. Delhi’s in-form opener gone first ball, the stand-in opener took over.
Sarfaraz Khan, in the company of Marsh who hit his second fifty on the trot, counter-attacked. Their 51-run partnership was a contrast in hitting; Khan swept, scooped and worked the angles to find boundaries while Marsh struck them clean down the ground including two back-to-back sixes off Rabada.
After five fours, one six and a few words with Arshdeep Singh, Khan mistimed a slower delivery to be caught for 32 (16b). Arshdeep took the pace off the ball to also deceive Lalit
Yadav. It was soon Livingstone’s turn to flummox with his off and leg-spin. The Englishman got Pant to mis-heave his second ball for six before having him stumped with an off-break from around the wicket. He then had Rovman Powell hole out at long-off with a looping leggie.
At the other end, Marsh was playing it smart by rotating the strike while picking up the odd boundary. That a 15-run 18th over, in which Marsh struck two fours, was DC’s most productive since the third summed up their innings which was held together tactfully by the Aussie.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 159/7 in 20 overs (M Marsh 63; L Livingstone 3/27, A Singh 3/37). Punjab Kings 142/9 in 20 overs (J Sharma 44; S Thakur 4/36, K Yadav 2/14). DC won by 17 runs.