The familiar implosion returned to haunt Delhi Capitals and kept it confined to the last spot on the 10-team league table.
Chasing a none-too-intimidating target of 168 set by Punjab Kings, Capitals tumbled from a sound 65 without loss in the PowerPlay, losing six wickets in the space of 19 runs and 30 balls, to suffer a 31-run defeat.
David Warner’s 13th half-century against Kings went in vain after he became part of the heap that included Philip Salt, Mitchell Marsh, Rilee Rossouw, Axar Patel and Manish Pandey. Later, Aman Khan and Praveen Dubey did their bit to soften the blow before the abortive chase ended at 136 for eight.
Before the bowlers did the job for Kings, opener Prabhsimran Singh’s maiden century in the competition lifted the team from 66 for three in 10 overs.
Despite watching Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma depart in the PowerPlay, which produced 46 runs, Prabhsimran chose his time to counter-attack. His 65-ball 103 was dotted with six sixes and 10 fours.
Off the 11th over, bowled by Mitchell Marsh, Prabhsimran hit 6, 6, 4 in succession in a 21-run over and injected much-needed momentum.
He added 72 runs with Sam Curran for the fourth wicket to keep Kings’ on course of setting a challenging target. In this resurrecting stand, Curran’s contribution was 20 off 24 balls but it was important for Kings’ that he kept Prabhsimran’s company.
Despite Curran’s struggle, 71 runs came between the 7th and 15th overs and another 50 in the last five overs to leave Capitals looking at a target of 168. The faster scoring rate in the second part of the innings - 101 runs in the last 10 overs - ensured Kings retained hopes of gaining two points. Thereafter, the bowlers struck after the PowerPlay to keep alive Kings’ slender hopes of making the playoffs.
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