Delhi Capitals vanquish Kings XI Punjab by 5 wickets

Delhi Capitals defeated Kings XI Punjab by 5 wickets in the ongoing Indian Premier League here on Saturday.

Chasing a target of 164, Delhi Capitals openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw, provided their side a steady start but because of lack of coordination Shaw gave away his wicket when he got run out in the fourth over.

Delhi skipper Shreyas Iyer then came out to bat and both the on-field batters smashed some scintillating shots and formed a 92-run partnership before Dhawan gave a simple catch to R Ashwin off Hardus Viljoen's delivery and brought his 56-run inning to an end. Rishabh Pant too was sent back to the pavilion immediately which brought Colin Ingram to the field.

Ingram stitched a 27-run partnership with skipper Iyer, who scored an unbeaten 58 runs off 49 balls which helped his side chase down the target set by the visitors. With this knock, Iyer also completed his 1500 runs in IPL.

Earlier, Kings XI Punjab were sent to bat first. Punjab faced a quick blow as KL Rahul lost his wicket in the second over of the inning. Mayank Aggarwal then joined Chris Gayle on the field but Aggarwal too was sent back to the pavilion by Kagiso Rabada and later Axar Patel got hold of David Miller.

Thereafter Mandeep Singh came out to bat and formed a crucial 45-run partnership with Gayle. Gayle scored 69 runs off just 37 balls before Sandeep Lamichhane put an end to his inning. This was Gayle's fourth half-century in this season of IPL.

R Ashwin formed a partnership with Mandeep Singh and Harpreet Brar of 23 and 22 runs respectively which helped Punjab set a respectable target of 164 runs for the hosts.

Punjab will now visit Bangalore to face Royals Challengers Bangalore on April 24 while Delhi Capitals will visit Jaipur to compete with Rajasthan Royals on April 22.

Brief scores: Delhi Capitals (Shreyas Iyer 58, Shikhar Dhawan 56, Hardus Viljoen 2-39) defeated King XI Punjab (Chris Gayle 69, Mandeep Singh 30, Sandeep Lamichhane 3-40) by five wickets.