Impact player Abishek Porel played a lovely cameo right at the end of the innings to help Delhi Capitals post a competitive 174/9 in 20 overs against Punjab Kings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.
It was an innings in which all of DC’s batters got set, but none could make a big total. Porel’s cameo of 32 not out off 10 balls, including 25 runs off the last over, helped DC go from 149/8 to cross the 170-run mark. Porel pulled, heaved, slogged, ramped, and flicked to hit three fours and two sixes in the final over to give DC’s bowlers something to defend.
Pushed into batting first on a solid black soil pitch, Mitchell Marsh picked back-to-back clipped fours off Sam Curran. From the other end, David Warner feasted on short balls from Arshdeep Singh by smashing a six and four off him.
Marsh welcomed Kagiso Rabada with a pulled six over deep square leg. In the next over, he smashed a straight bat loft off Arshdeep over long-off. But on the very next ball, Marsh fell after driving straight to Rahul Chahar at cover-point, who took a sharp catch.
Warner continued to be DC’s aggressor by slapping and scooping Rabada for four and six respectively. He also played a drive off Harshal Patel for another boundary. Shai Hope smacked Rahul Chahar over long-off for six and was helped by a misfield to get a four.
But Harshal struck by getting Warner’s edge off a slower bouncer and Jitesh Sharma dived forward to take the catch, with PBKS getting the decision. Hope slog-swept off Chahar for four and pulled Rabada over long-on for six, before mistiming a drive to cover off the pacer.
The moment for which everyone waited came after Warner’s fall when Rishabh Pant got big applause from a decent crowd while coming out to bat in his comeback competitive cricket game. The left-handed batter took his time, like not taking twos twice in his first six deliveries, before pulling off Chahar to Patel at mid-wicket, who dropped the catch to give him a boundary.
Pant wowed the crowd by piercing the gap between mid-off and cover on a half-volley from Patel. But the pacer bounced back with a slower ball angled into the body, which the batter tried to ramp over the keeper, but ended up lobbing the catch to a backward point, falling for a 13-ball 18.
From there, DC’s innings had a free-fall as Ricky Bhui went for a tickle down leg off Harpreet Brar, but replays showed a spike while going into Jitesh’s gloves and PBKS got the decision in their favour via review.
Tristan Stubbs holed out to long-on, who ran to his left and completed a good diving catch. Axar Patel hit a couple of boundaries, before being run out by a throw from a substitute fielder at deep square leg while going for a second run. Sumit Kumar shaped for a drive, but nicked behind to Jitesh off Arshdeep, before Porel’s onslaught took DC to a fighting total.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 174/9 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 33, Abishek Porel 32 not out; Arshdeep Singh 2-28, Harshal Patel 2-46) against Punjab Kings