Punjab Kings Squad: KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Riley Meredith, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar.
Delhi Capitals Squad: Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddarth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings.
Delhi wrap it up comfortably in the end with 10 balls to spare! Both Stoinis (27*) and Lalit (12*) hit boundaries in tandem to accelerate the chase. While Punjab succeeded with the bat, their bowling department failed tonight. DC: 198/4 (18.2 overs)
Richardson gets his second of the night as he scalps the wicket of Pant (15). Hooda with the juggling catch. DC: 180/4 (17.1 overs)
After a cagey over facing Arshdeep, Stoinis (22*) finally comes out of his shell as he hits Shami for a four on a free hit. Another free hit follows, and it's a huge one: six! A four to conclude the expensive over. The equation? 16 runs off 18 balls. DC: 180/3 (17 overs)
Delhi receive help from the second innings' dew factor and their chase remains impeccable. Most of it is down to Dhawan and his excellent batting... he hits Meredith for three straight fours and gets 18 runs off the over. In the next over, the skipper Pant (11*) steps in and gets in on the act by hitting a huge maximum against Richardson. But the Australian pacer bites back by bowling the deadly Dhawan out on 92. What an innings from the veteran opener -- 49 balls, 13 fours and two sixes. DC: 152/3 (14.5 overs)
Dhawan (78*) keeps the fight going almost single-handedly! After punishing Saxena with his tenth boundary of the innings, he chooses to take on Shami. He connects well with a slower delivery and sends it over everyone's heads. DC: 125/2 (13 overs)
Just when things were looking up for Delhi, calamity happens! Dhawan continues with his form and smacks Meredith for a four... minutes later, the bowler has his revenge as he removes Smith (9) with the help of a Richardson catch. DC: 107/2 (11 overs)
Both the Delhi batsmen are slowly settling in now. Dhawan (58*) ups the ante by hitting Hooda for back-to-back four and reaches his fifty in the next over courtesy of a single. His second in three innings. On the other hand, Smith is on 8*. DC: 99/1 (10 overs)
Punjab assume the control of the contest after Shaw's dismissal. Hooda comes in and puts some pressure on both Dhawan (37*) and Smith (5*), but in the next over, the Australian star breaks the boundary drought against Saxena. DC: 75/1 (8 overs)
After Shaw's schooling of Richardson and Dhawan's boundary shower in the last over, Punjab bite back in style! Arshdeep scalps the first wicket of the innings with the help of a Gayle catch. Shaw walks back after scoring 32 off 17. DC: 59/1 (5.3 overs)
Shaw is on fire tonight! The young opener first takes on the experienced Shami and smacks him for a four. Later, he picks one out of the top drawer and hits a six over long-on. Saxena comes in and even he suffers the same fate: a four. DC: 31/0 (3 overs)
Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan come out to start the chase for Delhi as Arshdeep Singh has the ball for Punjab. After a couple of initial twos by Shaw, Dhawan takes charge of the over and hits the pacer for a well-timed one-bounce boundary. DC: 10/0 (1 over)
After Avesh dismissed Pooran in the penultimate over, Shahrukh Khan came on to provide a late surge. And boy, did he succeed! His final over blitzkrieg, which included two fours and a six, guides Punjab to a competitive total. PBKS: 195/4 (20 overs)
Pooran breaks the boundary drought as he hits Rabada through deep mid. Delhi are trying to minimise the damage in the final overs. But can they stop Punjab from crossing the 200-run mark? Hooda's on 14* on the other end. PBKS: 170/3 (18 overs)
Before he even properly settled in, Gayle (11) is removed from the death over equation! The batsman's time in the middle comes to an end courtesy of a catch by substitute Ripal. Woakes with the wicket after he was hit for a massive six. PBKS: 158/3 (16.2 overs)
Finally, Rahul's explosive burst comes to an end! Rahul fails to middle Rabada's delivery perfectly and the shot ends up finding the man at deep mid -- Stoinis. A blow for Punjab, but they still have Gayle in the middle. On comes Hooda. PBKS: 141/2 (15.2 overs)
Rahul scores the half-century finally! It did take him 45 balls, but his innings has anchored Punjab's so far. PBKS: 128/1 (14 overs)
And there's the breakthrough for Delhi! After being smacked left, right and centre, Meriwala finally gets his reward. He sends the dangerous Mayank back to the pavilion with the help of Dhawan's catch. The batsman departs on 69. PBKS: 122/1 (12.4 overs)
Mayank reaches his fifty-run mark and it's well deserved! Facing Avesh Khan, he smacks a four and reaches the landmark in just 24 balls. In the next over, all hell breaks loose as the Punjab pair makes it rain sixes in Mumbai. Mayank (66*) hits two big ones in the first two deliveries of Rabada and then Rahul (41*) joins in on the fun and unleashes a maximum. PBKS: 113/0 (10.4 overs)
Pant introduces Lalit Yadav into the attack... but it doesn't go according to the plan. On the second ball itself, Rahul (34*) pulls a short ball away to the deep mid-wicket fence and then, he sends another short ball to the boundary line. PBKS: 74/0 (8 overs)
After reaching the 50-run stand on the last ball of Ashwin's first over, the Rahul-Mayank pair set their eyes on ending the powerplay in style. The skipper smashes Rabada for a four on his opening ball and then hits another one to fine leg. PBKS: 59/0 (6 overs)
Mayank is on fire! After punishing Woakes for two fours in the previous over, he again takes on Meriwala. Two runs and then returning back to normalcy with a classy boundary. His fifth of the evening already! Mayank moves to 29*. PBKS: 43/0 (4 overs)
The debutant Meriwala comes into the attack... and he's handed immediate agony! Rahul crashes the delivery through the covers for a four. On the next ball itself, Smith drops a catch and gifts the opener an extra life. Then, Mayank joins the party and absolutely hammers Meriwala. A four to sweeper cover, a six on a free hit, and another one to the ropes to end the over! PBKS: 25/0 (2 overs)
Woakes starts well with three consecutive dots at the start but Rahul finds his rhythm early on. The bowler gifts a slower delivery to Rahul (4*) on his birthday and the Punjab skipper smacks confidently to the ropes. Five runs off the over. PBKS: 5/0 (1 over)
KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal step out to open Punjab's innings as Chris Woakes is set to start the proceedings with the ball.
In the first contest of Sunday, RCB manage to make it three in three! The Virat Kohli-led side beat KKR by 38 runs. Highlights here.
'The pitch looks dry, there's not as much moisture. There will be less seam movement as compared to the previous matches. 11 wickets have fallen in the powerplay of four matches, so the teams need to get through those overs watchfully', says Simon Doull.
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Rishabh Pant (w/c), Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Chris Woakes, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Lukman Meriwala
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): KL Rahul (w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Jhye Richardson, Jalaj Saxena, Mohammed Shami, Riley Meredith, Arshdeep Singh
Delhi Capitals win the toss and opt to bowl first. "We will like to bowl first. In the second innings there is dew, so we need to make the use of the first 10 overs. Two changes. Smith comes in for Curran. Meriwala also comes in to make his debut," said Pant.
Staying confined to his hotel room for 10 days was “quite a lot” for him and DC pacer Anrich Nortje is hoping to get into the act straightaway against PBKS. Nortje had to spend an extended period of time in quarantine due to a false-positive result for COVID-19. However, the fast bowler re-joined the camp on Friday after testing negative thrice. “Ten days in the room was quite a lot for me. It was nice to get out, run around and bowl a bit. I really enjoyed it and hopefully, I can build it up from here on,” said Nortje.
In the first contest of Sunday, AB de Villiers' masterclass and Glenn Maxwell's counter-attacking half-century propelled RCB to an imposing 204/4 against KKR in Chennai. At the halfway mark of the chase, KKR are struggling on 83/4. Follow live updates here.
Delhi Capitals (Probable XI): Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Chris Woakes, Kagiso Rabada, R Ashwin, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan
Punjab Kings (Probable XI): KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Jhye Richardson, Murugan Ashwin, Chris Jordan/Riley Meredith, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
PBKS (15 wins) have the better record over DC (11 wins) and have won the last match played between these two sides as well.
Hello and welcome to the live commentary of the IPL 2021 contest between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings. Both Rishabh Pant's side and the KL Rahul-led team will be looking to bounce back from their previous defeats in the competition. Stay tuned for more!