5 min readMay 18, 2023 08:08 AM IST
First published on: May 17, 2023 at 11:53 PM IST
Synopsis: Rossouw blasts them to 213, but Delhi Capitals drop catches, miss run-outs and stir Livingstone into beast mode before Nortje seals win
Punjab Kings’s captain Shikhar Dhawan opted for the spin of Harpreet Brar in the 20th over of the first innings where 23 runs came. The move perhaps proved the difference in the end. With 34 runs needed from 5 balls, Delhi Capitals’s Ishant Sharma strangely risked bowling high full tosses in pursuit of the yorker. Eventually, an above waist-high no ball stirred the dead game to life but with the equation reading 16 from 3, Livingstone failed to connect with a full toss. Game over.
Rossouw blasts off
At the core, Rilee Rossouw’s game is simple, enunciated by himself in the past: “It doesn’t matter what stage you’re playing on – at the World Cup or back home. Just try and see the little white ball and hit the little white ball. It doesn’t matter who’s running in. Obviously some people have made names for themselves in cricket and you’ve got to take that into consideration. But at the end of the day someone’s bowling the ball to you and you’ve got to hit it.”
At the end of the day, there was Kagiso Rabada and Sam Curran bowling at him in Dharamshala and boy, did he wallop them. He walloped his first ball to midwicket boundary but it was a sweet cover drive a few balls later that underlined his composure. He picked the off-pace full delivery from Curran and caressed it between cover and mid-off. Similarly, in the 13th over, from Rabada, in between two muscled boundaries – a four over long-off and a picked-up six over backward square-leg, he had a deft late dab to third man boundary. He was hitting, and yet he was in control, composed, not slogging every ball. The six off Rabada was a fine one; no balance-affecting feet movement but just the knees flexed, he crouched, and the hands swung. And Rossouw smashed Brar for a couple of sixes and a four in a 23-run final over.
DC drop catches, miss run-outs
For a while in the chase, it wasn’t clear if either team wanted to win. Punjab Kings kept losing wickets, and would have lost the game earlier but Delhi Capitals weren’t ready to sew up the game; they kept dropping catches and missing run-out chances.
On the last ball of the eight over, Kuldeep Yadav had foxed Liam Livingstone, on 3, in flight and turn, but the moustachioed Anrich Nortje clanged a sitter at deep midwicket. In 10th over, Kuldeep lured Atharva Taide, on 35, to hole out to long-on but Yash Dhul palmed a sitter. In the dugout, the coach Ricky Ponting buried his head into his palms, let out an agonising cry, and looked here and there, barely managing to control his disgust. In the 11th over, with Taide nowhere in sight, David Warner had a shy at the non-striker’s end but missed. The batsmen thought about running for the overthrows before deciding against, and this time Livingstone, on 22, would have been run out at the striker’s end had the throw or the collection from the keeper been better.
Livingstone on beast mode
With 86 needed from 30 balls, Punjab Kings had Taide retire hurt and sent in hitter Jitesh Sharma. But he fell pulling Nortje in the 16th over to deep backward square-leg where an overjoyed Khaleel Ahmed held on to a running catch, much to the bemusement of Sourav Ganguly and co. in the dugout. Khaleel had more reasons to smile after he took out Shahrukh Khan in the next over to leave Punjab Kings needing 67 from 21 balls.
But Livingstone refused to give up. He had announced his intent in the 13th over when he bashed Nortje over long-on and now post Shahrukh’s exit, he started to go for everything. Four sixes and a four came in 8 balls as three of his maximums flew over long-on, and one was whipped over long-leg.
Things eventually turned Delhi’s way when Nortje yorked Sam Curran in the 19th over to leave the equation needing 34 from 10 balls. He also dived to his left to collect a throw from the wicketkeeper and run out Harpreet Brar, and gave away just 5 runs in that over to seal the game. Despite Ishant’s high-risk choice of the ball to bowl in the final over, Capitals triumphed.
Delhi Capitals' captain David Warner, right, and teammates celebrate the dismissal of Punjab Kings' Jitesh Sharma during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamshala, India, Wednesday, May 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia) 
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