Ahmedabad, May 3
Punjab Kings’ stand-in skipper Mayank Agarwal said his team couldn’t step up in the middle overs and ended up with at least 10 runs short during in IPL game against Delhi Capitals here.
The 30-year-old, who is leading the side in place of regular skipper KL Rahul, slammed a 58-ball 99 to single-handedly take Punjab to 166/6 after losing wickets in a bunch in the middle overs. DC then chased down the total in 17.4 overs.
“We were 10 short on that wicket and for the kind of powerplay they had, we had to really scramble there,” Agarwal, who was adjudged the Player of the Match, said.
“One batsman had to bat through and that was the plan, it was my day… but didn’t get as many in the middle overs,” he added.
Winning captain Rishabh Pant was extremely pleased with the way Delhi went about their business. “Shikhar (Dhawan) and Prithvi (Shaw) gave us a very good start. In the first innings, the ball was gripping and even in the second innings, it was slow but the way they started was commendable,” he said.
Dhawan, who smashed an unbeaten 47-ball 69, said they wanted to end the match early keeping in mind the net run-rate. “Really happy with the way we chased the score down. I knew I had to go till the end. Perfectly crafted innings, I enjoyed it,” he said.
