'Friction of the mighty force' - Punjab lose crunch game as Delhi boost playoff hopes

The 64th match of the Indian T20 League 2022 saw Delhi beat Punjab by 17 runs. Considering the huge stakes, this was a much-needed victory for the Rishabh Pant-led side. This is their seventh win in 13 games.

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After being asked to bat first, the first ball of the game itself saw a lot of drama. Upon seeing Liam Livingstone come to bowl, David Warner decided to take the strike on ball one, only to be dismissed. However, Delhi then played some audacious shots and got off to a good start. They scored 59 runs in the first six overs.

Mitchell Marsh was superb once again as he scored yet another half-century. The Aussie scored 63 from 48 balls, and hit four fours and three sixes. Despite losing wickets at the other end, he continued to play his natural game. An important point to be noted is that the pitch wasn't really batting-friendly. Thus, it made Marsh's knock even more special.

However, he was dismissed in the 19th over. As for Punjab's bowlers, Livingstone was the surprise package as he picked three wickets in four overs. The Delhi-based franchise scored 159-7 in the first innings. After which, the Punjab batters looked positive from ball one.

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Just when Jonny Bairstow looked set to take the game to the opposition, Anrich Nortje got the better of him in the fourth over. Unfortunately for the 2014-finalists, it all went downhill for them. Punjab kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Delhi's bowlers exploited the conditions to perfection, and were fabulous. Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav were superb in particular.

While both picked two wickets, Shardul Thakur took four wickets. As a matter of fact, it was his third over that put the final nail in the Punjab-based franchise's coffin. At the end, Punjab could only score 142-9 and thus, fell short of their target by 17 runs. This win has massively boosted Delhi's net run-rate. As for the Punjab-based franchise, only a miracle can now see them make it to the playoffs. Several users took to Twitter to speak about the game.

Here are some of the best Tweets from today's game:

This Dhawan is a friction to the mighty force of PBKS.#IPL

— Deepak Ostwal (@medeepakostwal) May 16, 2022

The bang bang approach of batting doesn't works when the wicket is little on the slower side... Punjab losing it again... #IPL2022

— Aviral Rai (@cric_fan23) May 16, 2022

Middle order kafi tough place hai crack karne ko. Hope Pbks don't release srk. He'll eventually come good. Its difficult to find Indian power hitters at 5-6.

— Prithvi (@Puneite_) May 16, 2022

Thakur gets Gabbar. Last time it happened was in 1975 in Sholay. #IPL2022

— Udit (@udit_buch) May 16, 2022

Mayank Agarwal’s trademark half cut to spin that he uses so well against SLA is most vulnerable to Axar, as Himanish wrote in his excellent piece, Axar is unique in that his ball still comes in despite turning away, will beat his shot on inside edge

— Dweplea (@dweplea) May 16, 2022

Punjab batting performance makes Marsh’s knock look so much superior. Two back to back match winning innings at this stadium

— nathan (@paceandbounce_) May 16, 2022

A world class spell by Axar Patel - 2/14 in 4 overs. He's also completed 100 wickets in the IPL, a great asset to the team. pic.twitter.com/CGVFhBjMhK

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 16, 2022

Kumble, the coach, will have a lot of explaining to do to the Punjab Kings management. They got the squad they wanted at the auction. And have still failed to make the play-offs. Came close two previous season, but this time, with a better team have performed even worse.

— Venkata Krishna B (@venkatatweets) May 16, 2022

Punjab saw DC's net run rate might be more challenging for RCB than their own and started bottling the match.

— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) May 16, 2022

when you're the best spinner in India, but couldn't teach your team to play spin pic.twitter.com/pckCknJ2mP

— ° (@anubhav__tweets) May 16, 2022

What A Spell From Liam Livingstone

4 Overs

27 Runs

3 Wickets

Wickets Of Pant, Povell,Warner

Multi Skilled AR 🤙 pic.twitter.com/kSxzXnnusP

— Pratik 🪄 (@122mlongsix) May 16, 2022

Mitchell Marsh stepped up so many times in last one year on a surface like this.

— Kaushik (@CricKaushik_) May 16, 2022

Not taking away from Axar but Mayank played horribly wrong.

You can't go that much deep.

— Alok Ranjan 🇮🇳 (@itsalokranjan) May 16, 2022

Delhi Capitals are on a roll, the spin duo making things happen for Pant.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 16, 2022