Our boys rode on Prabhsimran Singh’s sensational ton, followed by Harpreet Brar’s four-wicket haul to beat Delhi Capitals (DC) by 31 runs in our must-win TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on Saturday, May 13.

With the massive win, we stay in contention for the playoffs.

Coin In Favour Of The Hosts:

DC captain David Warner won the toss and put us into bat. Our skipper Shikhar Dhawan made only one change in our playing XI as Sikandar Raza replaced Bhanuka Rajapaksa.

Prabhsimran Singh Holds Fort:

Dhawan welcomed Ishant Sharma with a huge six over long-on. However, Ishant dismissed our skipper on the following delivery.

From the other end, Prabhsimran Singh slammed Khaleel Ahmed for two boundaries in the third over. The classy opener slog sweeped Axar Patel for another four to keep our scoreboard moving.

Prabhsimran and Liam Livingstone stitched a 22-run stand for the second wicket before Ishant got the better of our England all-rounder.

Prabhsimran continued his attacking approach as he clobbered Axar for a maximum.

But in the sixth over, we suffered another massive blow as Jitesh Sharma fell to Axar.

Prabh-Sam Fightback:

Sam Curran joined Prabhsimran in the middle. The duo played sensibly to stitch a crucial partnership.

In the 11th over, Prabhsimran hammered Mitchell Marsh for back-to-back sixes and followed it up with another boundary to provide us the much-needed momentum.

Prabhsimran continued his blitzkrieg as he hit Kuldeep Yadav for a 91-metre six. He later smacked Praveen Dubey for another 91-metre maximum over the long-on boundary.

Unfortunately, Dubey broke the 72-run stand by dismissing Sam Curran for 20.

We soon lost our fifth wicket too as Harpreet Brar departed early.

Prabhsimran’s Magnificent Ton:

Despite losing a few wickets on the other end, Prabhsimran ensured our run rate wasn’t affected. He smacked Kuldeep for 12 runs in the 17th over.

Our dynamic opener hit consecutive fours of Khaleel to slam his maiden TATA IPL hundred. His swashbuckling century included 10 fours and six maximums.

At the age of 22 years and 276 days, Prabhsimran became the sixth youngest to score a hundred in the TATA IPL campaign.

Prabhsimran’s brilliant knock (103) was ended by DC’s pacer Mukesh Kumar.

Sikandar Raza and Shahrukh Khan added 10 runs in the final over to help us post 167/7 in our allotted overs.

Harpreet Brar Provides Breakthrough:

Our bowlers were off to a difficult start as DC openers David Warner and Philip Salt scored 65 runs in the first six overs.

However, our left-arm spinner, Harpreet Brar provided us with a much-needed breakthrough as he cleaned up Salt in the seventh over.

Brar-Chahar Spin A Web:

Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar joined the party as he trapped Mitchell Marsh in front of the stumps.

In the ninth over, Brar scalped two massive wickets. He dismissed Rilee Rossouw and Warner to bring us back into the game.

Chahar gave us more joy as he removed Axar to reduce DC to 86/5.

Brar continued his magical spell as he got the better of Manish Pandey. Brar finished with figures of 4-0-30-4.

Nathan Ellis Makes Instant Impact:

Aman Khan and Praveen Dubey showed some resistance. They forged a 30-run partnership for the seventh wicket before Aman fell to our impact player, Nathan Ellis.

Ellis soon cleaned up Dubey to take us one step closer to victory.

Huge Win To Stay Alive:

Our bowlers continued their brilliant display to restrict DC to 136/8 and help us register a comprehensive 31-run victory at the Qila Kotla.

With 12 points from as many matches, we have jumped to sixth place in the TATA IPL 2023 standings.

With a much-needed victory, we BELIEVE again.

Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 167/7 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 103, Sam Curran 20; Ishant Sharma 2/27) beat Delhi Capitals 136/8 in 20 overs (David Warner 54, Philip Salt 21; Harpreet Brar 4/30) by 31 runs.

Player of the Match: Prabhsimran Singh.