The Delhi Capitals posted a 17-run win against the Punjab Kings on Monday night at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai to enter the top-four of the Tata IPL points table.

Both Liam Livingstone and Arshdeep Singh picked three wickets each as PBKS restricted DC to 159/7 but Jitesh Sharma found no support to his fighting 44 (34) and they were kept to 142/9 in response.

Captain Mayank Agarwal won the toss and opted to bowl first. It was Liam Livingstone who opened the bowling and took out the dangerous David Warner for a golden duck right away. However, Sarfaraz Khan and Mitchell Marsh freed their arms easily after that to score 40 runs in the next three overs.

In the fifth over, Arshdeep Singh struck, taking out Khan for 32 (16). DC put up 59/2 in the powerplay, with Marsh and Lalit Yadav standing. With the pitch slowing down, disciplined bowling from Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar and Rishi Dhawan restricted the Capitals to 86/2 in 10 overs.

Singh came to the fore once more to take out Yadav for 24 (21) to break their 47-run stand. It was followed by captain Rishabh Pant’s departure for 7 (3) in Livingstone’s second over. It was set up with a wide ball that snuck under Pant’s bat followed by an easy stumping from Jitesh Sharma.

Livingstone continued his spell to pick up another wicket in the 14th over, tempting Rovman Powell to play a big shot, only to be caught by Shikhar Dhawan towards long-off. This over, along with Chahar’s over of just one run next, restricted the Capitals to 116/5 in 15 with Marsh and new batter Axar Patel in the middle. Livingstone finished with numbers of 3/27.

It was Kagiso Rabada who finally put a halt to Marsh’s run in the 19th over. It was an in-the-slot delivery that didn’t get a healthy amount of bat on it, with Rishi Dhawan lapping it up running sideways from deep-midwicket.

Arshdeep Singh bowled the final over, giving away just seven runs and picking Shardul Thakur’s wicket to restrict the Capitals to 159/7 in their 20 overs. Only 10 came off the last two overs. Marsh’s 63 (48) had anchored the innings for DC. Singh finished with 3/37.

The Kings started the chase well with Jonny Bairstow going for the boundaries early on before an Anrich Nortje delivery got the better of him for 28 (35). The team accelerated to 44/1 in five overs, but twin strikes from Thakur in the sixth over put the team on the backfoot.

Thakur accounted for the wickets of Bhanuka Rajapaksa (4 off 5) and Shikhar Dhawan (19 off 16) in the sixth over, making way for Livingstone and Agarwal at the crease. At the six-over mark, the Kings had 54/3 on their scorecard.

An Axar Patel delivery found the stumps behind Agarwal, sending him off for a duck and making way for Jitesh Sharma. It was followed by an over from Kuldeep Yadav, which added just two runs to PBKS’ score while claiming Livingstone’s wicket for 3 (5).

Yadav repeated the feat in his next over, this time claiming Harpreet Brar’s wicket. At the end of the 10-over mark, PBKS were at 68/6, with Sharma and Rishi Dhawan at the crease. In the 13th over, Patel put an end to Rishi Dhawan’s stay, finishing with numbers 4-0-14-2.

The 15th over brought the team 12 runs off Khaleel Ahmed, the most in a while. It was the beginning of a 41-run partnership between Sharma and Chahar, with Sharma’s 44 (34) threatening to take the game away from the Capitals. However, Sharma’s knock, with three fours and two sixes, ended in the 18th over bowled by Thakur, who also took out Rabada for 6 (2).

At 131/9 in 18 overs, PBKS needed 29 off the last two. Nortje’s penultimate over gave just three runs, and the final over, bowled by Thakur, got in eight runs, to give DC a 17-run win. Chahar finished with a 25* (24) that was not enough to get the team across the line.

PBKS remain at the seventh position in the Tata IPL points table with 12 points with a final match against SRH to go.