IPL: Rossouw blitz puts Punjab Kings on brink of elimination

A dazzling display of boundary hitting all around the ground from Rilee Rossouw in his unbeaten 82 off 37, combined with useful contributions from the other Delhi Capitals top-four batters, handed Punjab Kings a 15-run defeat and severely dented their playoff chances.

Kings got close to the finish line in the end, thanks to a belligerent 94 off 48 from Liam Livingstone, but he fought a lone battle.

The loss kept Kings on the eighth spot with 12 points. They now depend on many other results going their way to stay alive in the playoffs race because they have only one match to go, and three teams are already above 14 points, which is the most Kings can get to.

Kings were mostly behind the asking rate right from the start because their only other batter who scored over 25 was Atharva Taide, who struggled for fluency and retired out on 55 off 42 balls.

Livingstone’s pursuit of boundaries in the end kept Kings’ slim hopes alive, whether they needed 79 off 24 or 38 off 12.

In the last over too, when they needed 23 from the last three balls, they got a lifeline when Ishant Sharma sent down a no-ball which Livingstone sent for six, making it 16 required from three with a free hit coming. But Livingstone failed to connect with the subsequent full toss and holed out to long-off on the last ball.

In the first IPL game in Dharamsala in ten years, David Warner and Prithvi Shaw saw out the first 16 balls for no boundaries before racing away. Warner broke the shackles with consecutive fours off Sam Curran before pulling Kagiso Rabada for two sixes.

Shaw too got going when he saw Arshdeep Singh’s short balls didn’t have much pace. He pulled and glanced him for 4, 4 and 6 in a 16-run over.

When Warner also put away Nathan Ellis’ slower balls for fours, the Capitals ended the powerplay on 61 and soon brought up their highest opening stand of this IPL. (ESPNcricinfo)