Shikhar Dhawan's explosive innings powered Delhi Capitals to their second victory of the season with a brilliant 92 off 49 against Punjab Kings in the second game of the first double header of the season.
Chasing a big target of 196, DC openers Prithvi Shaw (32 off 17) and Dhawan shared a 59 run stand for the first wicket in 5.3 overs.
Dhawan then added 48 runs for the 2nd wicket alongside Steve Smith, who added 9 off 12. Dhawan's fiery innings, that could have been his 3rd IPL century ended in the 15th over while attempting for a scoop only to fall prey to Jhye Richardson.
None of the PBKS' bowlers were able to stop the flow of runs or clinch crucial wickets to defend a great total and Kings had to suffer their second defeat of this edition. DC were home comfortably on the second delivery of the 19th over with their final score being 198/4.
Having asked to bat first, PBKS' were off to a solid start with openers Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul launching the DC's bowlers all over the park. After a cautious start, picking 5 in the first over, the duo added 20 runs off Lukman Meriwala's over as Mayank smashed him for 2 fours and a 6. The Kings touched the 50-run mark in 5 overs, finishing powerplay with 59 runs.
Mayank spearheaded the opening stand and scored his half-century from 25 balls, reaching the feat in style hitting a four in the 10th over by Avesh Khan. Further on, the opener hit two consecutive sixes in the beginning of 11th over, showing no respect to DC's ace of pace Kagiso Rabada.
Lukman Meriwala finally dismissed Mayank (69 off 36) in the 13th over to end the 122-run partnership after a drought that extended over half of the innings. Contrasting Mayank's quick fire half century, Rahul rather played a slow and steady knock, taking 45 balls to breach the score of 50.
Rahul scored a 51-ball 61 before getting dismissed by Rabada in the 16th over. Later on, Deepak Hooda's cameo of an unbeaten 22 off 13 coupled with Shahrukh Khan's 15 off 5 took PBKS to brilliant 195/4. Besides that, both Chris Gayle 11 off 9 and Nicholas Pooran 9 off 8 put up disappointing shows.
