A half-century by Sam Curran and his 67-run partnership with Liam Livingstone helped Punjab Kings (PBKS) secure a four-wicket win over Delhi Capitals (DC) in Rishabh Pant‘s comeback game during the Indian Premier League at Mullanpur on Saturday. Chasing 175, Punjab Kings were off to a fine start as openers Jonny Bairstow and skipper Shikhar Dhawan made their attacking intentions clear by smashing Khaleel Ahmed for two boundaries each in the first over.

The budding partnership between Bairstow-Dhawan was cut short at 34 runs as the skipper’s Delhi teammate, Ishant Sharma, got him for 22 in 16 balls, with four boundaries. PBKS was 34/1 in 3.1 overs.

There was no keeping Ishant out of action as he ran out Bairstow for nine. PBKS was 42/2 in 3.5 overs.

Prabhsimran Singh and Sam Curran were the fresh pair on the crease. Khaleel got hit for two successive boundaries by Prabhsimran, bringing up the 50-run mark for PBKS in five overs.

PBKS had a solid powerplay. At the end of six overs. PBKS was 60/2, with Prabhsimran (17*) and Curran (9*) unbeaten.

Prabhsimran’s small, but impactful knock ended with 26 in 17 balls with five fours. Kuldeep Yadav took his first wicket and David Warner took a catch at long-on. PBKS was 84/3 in 9.2 overs.

Halfway through the innings, PBKS was 87/3, with Jitesh Sharma (2*) and Curran (23*) unbeaten.

Jitesh was looking really great, smashing Sumit Kumar for two fours. However, his innings was cut short by a stumping from Pant at score of nine. Kuldeep took his second wicket. PBKS was 100/4 in 11.3 overs.

Delhi Capitals bowlers were making pressure on PBKS but Livingstone and Curran got 18 runs from Mitchell Marsh‘s 15th over, including two fours and a six. PBKS needed 45 in final five overs.

Curran hit the first half-century of IPL 2023 in 38 balls, with five fours.

After a largely silent over by Axar Patel, Liam hit Khaleel for two fours, bringing down the deficit to 28 in final three overs.

Curran continued turning tables in favour of Punjab, smashing Marsh for a four and six. Livingstone ended the over with a six, bringing down the deficit to 10 in 12 balls.

Khaleel ended the explosive 67-run stand between the two England stars, cleaning up Curran for 63 in 47 balls, with six fours and a six. PBKS was 167/5 and needed eight more runs in nine balls. On the next ball, he got Shashank Singh for a duck, leaving PBKS with eight runs to get in eight deliveries.

Livingstone sealed the win with a six, finishing PBKS’s innings at 177/6 with four balls to spare. Livingstone was unbeaten at 38* in 23 balls, with two fours and three sixes. Harpreet Brar was unbeaten at 2* from the other end.

Kuldeep (2/20) and Khaleel Ahmed (2/43) were top bowlers for DC.

PBKS co-owner Preity Zinta was ecstatic after the win.

A win to start off

Sam Curran & Liam Livingstone guide @PunjabKingsIPL to a wicket victory over #DC

Scorecard https://t.co/ZhjY0W03bC#TATAIPL | #PBKSvDC pic.twitter.com/OrH2ZXUIID

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 23, 2024

Earlier, young Abhishek Porel’s blistering knock helped Delhi Capitals (DC) post a total of 174 runs with the loss of nine wickets, despite Punjab Kings (PBKS) bowlers outstanding performance in the first innings of their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match here on Saturday.

PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur here. Two Australian batters, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh opened the innings for the Delhi Capitals. Both batters started off very aggressively and registered a quick 39-run partnership.

The first wicket to fall was of Marsh. He was dismissed in the fourth over on the bowling of Harshal Patel after scoring 20 runs off 12 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes each. DC was 39/1 in 3.2 overs.

DC reached the 50-run mark in 4.5 overs.

Warner was the next one to go, dismissed by Harshal Patel and caught behind by Jitesh for 29 in 21 balls, with three fours and two sixes. DC was 74/2 in eight overs.

The star West Indies wicketkeeper-batter came next and played a small but a crucial innings for the side. The right-hand batter scored 33 runs from 25 balls which were laced with two boundaries and two sixes each in his inning. DC was 94/3 in 10.4 overs.

DC skipper Rishabh Pant came after the fall of the second wicket and score only 18 runs in the match, with two fours. Notably, Pant missed the last season because of injuries he sustained during the life-threatening car accident in December 2022. DC was 111/4 in 12.4 overs.

Star India all-rounder Axar Patel scored crucial 21 runs in 13 balls with two fours and a six. In the end, the visitors brought in Porel as an impact player in place of Ricky Bhui. Wickets fell from the other end and DC sunk to 147/8 in 18.3 overs.

Porel played an unbeaten quickfire knock of 32 runs off just 10 balls which came at a strike rate of 320 with the help of four boundaries and two sixes. It helped DC reach 174/9 in 20 overs. Porel was run out on the final ball.

For the hosts, two wickets each were snapped by Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel in their spell of four overs, where they conceded 28 runs and 47 runs, respectively. One wicket each was grabbed by Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet and Rahul Chahar in their respective spells.

Brief Score: Delhi Capitals 174/9 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 33, Abhishek Porel 32*, Arshdeep Singh 2/28) vs Punjab Kings: 177/6 in 19.2 overs (Sam Curran 63, Liam Livingstone 38*, Kuldeep Yadav: 2/20).