Delhi Capitals register fifth straight defeat of the season
In a rather one-sided game, Delhi Capitals lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore, registering their fifth straight defeat of the season. Having won the toss, Delhi Capitals Captain David Warner decided to have a bowl at the Chinnaswamy stadium. The decision was turned out to be a decent one as Delhi Capitals removed RCB skipper Faf du Plessis in the fifth over. However, Virat Kohli’s 34-ball 50 and cameos by Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed powered RCB to 174 runs in 20 overs.
Chasing the score, Delhi Capitals had a nightmare of a start as they were reduced to 2 for 3 within 3 overs, with Prithvi Shaw and Mitchell Marsh departing for ducks. Manish Pandey held one end till the 14th over but he was removed by Wanindu Hasaranga for 50 runs. With constant wickets falling from both ends, Delhi Capitals could only manage 151 runs in their 20 overs and ended up losing the game by 23 runs. Delhi Capitals are now the only team without a win at the points table and are seated at the bottom of the table. Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, have jumped one spot, from the eighth to the seventh.
Punjab win without Dhawan
In a rather surprising turn of events, Punjab Kings registered their third win of the season, that too without their regular captain Shikhar Dhawan, who missed out on the game due to an injury. Having won the toss, the stand-in skipper for Punjab Kings, Sam Curran, decided to invite the hosts, Lucknow Super Giants to bat first on a spin-friendly wicket. A 56-ball 74 from KL Rahul put the hosts to a decent total of 159 runs in their 20 overs.
When Punjab Kings came to chase the total down, they lost 3 wickets within the powerplay and could only manage to score 45 runs. However, out-of-form Sikandar Raza emerged as the hero for PBKS as he scored a 41-ball 53 with 4 fours and 3 sixes. He regulated Punjab’s batting int he middle overs and made sure they were never out of the game. A quick 10 ball 23 from young Shahrukh Khan lower down the order made sure that Punjab went past the winning line. Punjab have now moved up one spot in the points table and are currently seated at the 4th spot with 6 points in 5 games. LSG have managed to maintain their second spot despite the defeat.
Here’s the updated points table after LSG vs PBKS Game 21:
| Rank | Teams | Matches | Won | Lost | No Results | Points | NRR |
| 1. | Rajasthan Royals | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | +1.588 |
| 2. | Lucknow Super Giants | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | +0.761 |
| 3. | Gujarat Titans | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | +0.341 |
| 4. | Punjab Kings | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | -0.109 |
| 5. | Kolkata Knight Riders | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | +0.711 |
| 6. | Chennai Super Kings | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | +0.225 |
| 7. | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -0.316 |
| 8. | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | -0.822 |
| 9. | Mumbai Indians | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -0.879 |
| 10. | Delhi Capitals | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -1.488 |
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