Aakash Chopra, DC, CSK, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ricky Ponting, DC, KXIP
DC beat KXIP in the super-over [Photo-Twitter]

Oh, Mayank Agarwal! You gotta feel for the stylish KXIP opener. After doing almost everything during his brilliantly paced 89 to take his team from the brink of defeat to a brilliant victory, the right-hander faltered at the final hurdle, paving way for the game to end in a tie. And, then DC’s Kagiso Rabada’s brilliance in the super-over ensured that Agarwal would be left ruing his stroke on the penultimate delivery as Delhi snatched two points from KXIP in what was a hugely entertaining game of IPL 2020.

Chasing 158 to win, KXIP started cautiously against the pace of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada. KL Rahul looked good during his 18-ball 21 before he was undone by a Mohit Sharma delivery; one that nipped back in to bamboozle his stumps.

Karun Nair, in an attempt to take on Ashwin, top-edged the offie on the very first ball he bowled to give a simple catch to Prithvi Shaw at short fine-leg. Ravi Ashwin then proceeded to beat Nicholas Pooran’s defense with the arm-ball to leave KXIP reeling at 3-34 in 5.5 overs.

But, unfortunately, tragedy struck on the very next ball as Ashwin, in an attempt to stop the ball, seemingly injured his shoulder, immediately leaving the field in excruciating pain. Things, however, kept getting worse for KXIP as Maxwell mistimed the lofted drive straight to Shreyas Iyer at long-off. KXIP- 4-35.

Sarfaraz Khan got a lucky reprieve when Kagiso Rabada induced an outside edge, only to see it go between Pant and the 1st slip. But Khan couldn’t make it count as he holed out to Axar Patel in the deep to leave KXIP reeling at 5-55.

KXIP, DC, IPL 2020
Mayank Agarwal [Photo-Twitter]
Mayank Agarwal played some delightful strokes against Anrich Nortje in the 13th over to give some sort of momentum to his innings.

With 74 required off the last 6 overs, KXIP needed one of their batters to emulate Marcus Stoinis knock. Krishnappa Gowtham smoked a six and a four off Mohit Sharma on the first two balls of the 15th over to give some sort of momentum to the innings. But Kagiso Rabada once again proved to be the partnership breaker as he dismissed Gowtham in the very next over to drive home the advantage in DC’s favor.

Mayank Agarwal then proceeded to flex his muscles. The right-hander smoked two brilliant boundaries off Anrich Nortje before smashing Mohit Sharma for back-to-back sixes to not only complete his half-century but also bring the equation down to a manageable 28 off 15 balls.

This was Mayank unleashed. Absolutely unleashed. And, it didn’t matter whether it was Rabada or any other bowler. The Karnataka batsman went downtown against the fast bowler to score another boundary. Rabada nearly had his revenge but for Shreyas Iyer, who dropped an easy catch in the deep after Mayank mistimed one straight in the deep. 12 runs came off the penultimate over, leaving KXIP another 12 to script a brilliant win.

KXIP, DC
Mayank Agarwal [Photo-Twitter]
And, Mayank Agarwal wasn’t going to miss out. He smoked Stoinis for yet another six of the very first ball to bring the target down to 7 off 5 balls. He was not brilliant in his strokeplay but also top-notch when it came to running between the wickets, which he displayed again on the very next ball. He proceeded to nail another brilliant cover-drive for a boundary to level the score. There was another twist after Agarwal holed out in the deep off the penultimate ball and Stoinis dismissed Jordan off the last delivery to ensure that the game ended in a tie.

Kagiso Rabada’s brilliance in the Super Over ensures Mayank Agarwal heroics went in vain?

Kagiso Rabada ensured why he one of the great death bowlers of the modern era. The South African fast bowler went bang bang, dismissing KL Rahul with a short-pitch delivery before shattering Nicholas Pooran’s stumps to end the KXIP innings at 2 runs, which Rishabh Pant achieved with a boundary off Mohammed Shami on the second delivery.

 

Mohammed Shami and Ravi Bishnoi lead the charge for KXIP before Marcus Stoinis whirlwind knock leads DC to 157.

The Delhi Capitals couldn’t have got off to a worse start than they did after KL Rahul decided to put them in to bat. Mohammed Shami looked like he hasn’t missed a beat despite such an extended break. The Indian pace-bowling spearhead bowled perfect Test match lengths, exploiting the seam to brilliant effect.

Shikhar Dhawan was involved in a horrible miscommunication and was run out on the very first ball that he faced off Shami. Dhawan was taken aback by the well-executed bouncer from Shami and he would have been caught, had KL Rahul held on to the catch.

KXIP, DC, IPL 2020
Mohammad Shami [Photo-Twitter]
Shami troubled both Prithvi Shaw and Shimron Hetmyer with the back-of-a-length ploy and eventually scalped both of them in his 2nd over to leave DC reeling at 3-13 in 4 overs.

DC needed their experienced duo of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant to take their side from troubled waters. The duo did exactly that as they went about stitching a 50+ stand and what was so good to see was the manner in which they rotated the strike.

Pan struggled against Ravi Bishnoi but Shreyas Iyer had no such problems against Krishanappa Gowtham. The DC skipper one again displayed why he is a murderer of spin bowling as he went bang bang against Gowtham, hitting him for sixes straight down the ground on a regular basis.

Ravi Bishnoi bowled really well in his debut game. The rookie leggie mixed up his variations brilliantly, tying Pant down by not giving him anything in his arc, before eventually scripting his downfall as the southpaw went for a wild hoick against the googly that he couldn’t pick, only to see his stumps shattered.

KL Rahul brought back Mohammed Shami immediately after Pant’s wicket and it proves to be a masterstroke as Shreyas Iyer mistimed a lofted drive to give Shami his 3rd scalp. Bishnoi, on the other hand, continued to impress as the DC batsman struggled to pick his variations. The debutant leggie eventually finished with figures of 1-22.

Sheldon Cottrell returned to immediately strangle Axar Patel down the leg-side to leave the Capitals reeling at 6-95.

Marcus Stoinis
Marcus Stoinis (Credits: Twitter)

Marcus Stoinis [53 off 21 balls] stroked some lusty blows off Sheldon Cottrell and Chris Jordan in the last three overs, including three fours and two sixes in the last over by Jordan to ensure that DC scored 57 runs off the last 18 balls to finish at a respectable 8-157 in 20 overs.

 

Here’s how Twitter reacted to KXIP’s nail-biting four-wicket win over DC-

 

https://twitter.com/s_badrinath/status/1307739632327507968

https://twitter.com/Being_circuit/status/1307721263918456839?s=19

https://twitter.com/dhruv_casm/status/1307699396130123778?s=19

https://twitter.com/FarziCricketer/status/1307698346128076810?s=19