Kings XI Punjab continued their winning run as they registered their third successive victory against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2020. They have now moved from the bottom of the table to fifth place with 8 points, and are just behind Kolkata Knight Riders, who are on 10 points.
Here are the talking points from the encounter.
Iyer’s strange captaincy blunder
Ravi Ashwin has literally owned Chris Gayle’s wicket in T20s. Before the game on Tuesday, the Indian off-spinner had dismissed the West Indian four times in 59 balls while conceding just 49 runs. Once the Punjab openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal were dismissed early, Shreyas Iyer should have got in Ashwin when Gayle walked out to bat. However, the DC skipper got Tushar Deshpande to bowl the over, and the Universal Boss took on the opportunity and blasted the youngster for 26 runs – the most expensive over in the powerplay over by an DC bowler this IPL.
Ashwin was eventually brought into the attack, and dismissed Gayle off the second ball of the sixth over, but by then the momentum was back in the Punjab dugout. DC were eventually left pondering the “what ifs”.
“Shaw needs to tighten his technique”
Prithvi Shaw, who started IPL 2020 on a high with two sixties and a score in the forties, has had a few disappointing games thus far, with his last five knocks being 7, 0, 0, 4 and 19. However, it is not just a lean patch of form but an issue with his technique that Sunil Gavaskar pointed out in the commentary box. The pacers have bowled short to Shaw of late and the youngster has gone after the shot, only to miscue the delivery.
Jofra Archer and Deepak Chahar both dismissed Shaw in a similar fashion, and on Tuesday, James Neesham too bowled a short ball towards the fourth stump to Shaw. The youngster chased the ball that was not in his arc and skied it to Glenn Maxwell, who was at wide long-off.
Gavaskar stated that Shaw’s front foot on the leg side was an area of concern as he looked out of balance and did not try to get near the pitch of the ball.
Sunil Gavaskar on Prithvi Shaw:
“It’s a worrying thing for Indian cricket that a young man doesn’t think about his dismissals and correct them.”#DCvKXIP #cricketnews #IPL2020
— Cricket News (@cricketnews_com) October 20, 2020
Dhawan has been the star!
A few games ago, head coach of Delhi, Ricky Ponting, had admitted that Shikhar Dhawan needed to increase his strike rate. The left-hander has gone about correcting just that and has scored 264 runs in 152 balls in his last three innings at a strike rate of 173.68. The Team India opener, who has never been knock for his aggressive batting style in T20s, and still has an IPL strike rate of 126.70, was criticized for his slow batting approach but this new avatar, which enabled him to get to his second hundred in as many games, is not only good news for DC but for Team India as well.
They now have KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan fighting for the opening spot yet again.
Shikhar Dhawan becomes only the fifth batter to score multiple centuries in one IPL season and the first to score back-to-back hundreds in consecutive innings!#ShikharDhawan #DCvKXIP #cricketnews #cricket
— Cricket News (@cricketnews_com) October 20, 2020