Delhi lose 7 wickets for 8 runs; KXIP script stunning heist

MOHAL: Delhi Capitals were motoring along in their chase of 167, they were 144/3, Rishabh Pant and Colin Ingram were absolutely cruising when things slipped, the match turned, it all went pear-shaped for Delhi Capitals.

Rishabh Pant was the first man to go, he was bowled by Shami, Morris was run out in the very next ball and suddenly, KXIP were back believing.

Enter Sam Curran, and he turned the match upside down. Colin Ingram wanted to take him downtown, was caught at long off. Harshal Patel walked out, he wanted to swing across the line, nicked it behind to KL Rahul. Delhi were suddenly 7 down, they still needed 19 runs in the final two overs.

And then Curran came back again in the final over, he took care of Rabada, who was knocked over by a scorching yorker by Sam Curran. Yes, he was on a hat-trick, the cameras panned to the dugout, Delhi were shocked; they gaped on, but at almost nothing.

Not for Curran though, he ran in, nailed in another full and straight ball, it was too good for Sandeep Lamichhane, the ball knocked over the stumps. A hat-trick for Curran, Punjab stole the match by 14 runs.

And, Delhi had lost 7 wickets for 8 runs in the final 17 deliveries. Barely believable, but Mohali erupted. Curran was mobbed by his teammates and Delhi was knocked out in a match they were controlling for almost the entire duration.

“Really disappoiinting. We didn’t play smart cricket. They outplayed us in all departments. They were really cool and calm in that situation. I’m speechless. Losing such games is not going to help us at the end. It was really difficult to even see from outside, the batsmen not taking initiative. It’s good that it happened early in the season, so we can learn from this. To be honest, we didn’t bowl that well. They came really hard at us in the Powerplay. We defended really well after that. Mentally we need to train ourselves – we are getting good starts, need to finish better,” Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer said after the match.

SCORE BOARD

Kings XI Punjab 166-9: Sarfaraz Khan 39, David Miller 43, Chris Morris 3/30. Delhi Capitals 152-10: Rishabh Pant 39, Colin Ingram 38, Sam Curran 4/11