Riley Rossouw 37-ball 82 not out finally trumped the Livingstone massacre as it was yet another IPL Run Fest at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in front of a packed crowd.
Delhi played the role of party spoiler perfectly as they managed to avoid the Livingstone Special. It was a thriller with another 400-plus total as the boundaries came galloping and the bowlers ducked for cover.
Already out of the playoff race, Delhi finally came to the party to post a mammoth 213/2 in their last match of the season after PBKS opted to bowl.
Rossouw displayed some exceptional strokeplay in his 82 not out blitz, while Prithvi Shaw (54; 38b) also hit a half-century on his return after nearly a month as DC posted their first 200-plus score this season.
In reply, PBKS managed only 198/8 in the allotted 20 overs despite all the fielding shenanigans by DC.
Englishman Livingstone scored 94 from 48 balls, including five fours and nine sixes, but it was not enough as the total proved too much.
While Delhi are now ninth in the table after a consolation win, Punjab Kings remain on 12th after 13 matches due to this massive defeat and even a win in the last match and finishing with 14 points in net runs Might not be enough as the -0.308 rate only added insult to injury.
as it happened
The Preity Zinta co-owned team has not even made it to the last four stages for nine consecutive years since their last appearance in 2014.
But DC’s fielding effort gave them enough chances.
Three catches were dropped off the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav, including Livingstone at three and Teide at three, both of whom returned with 0/21 from their three overs.
He also missed two run-out chances when both the batsmen, Livingstone and Tide, were out, but DC could not manage to hit the stumps on a poor outing.
PBKS made a tactical decision to retire rookie Atharva Tayde after his 42-ball 55 (5×4, 2×6) as he was finding it difficult to get going after the first half of the innings.
Livingstone kept the PBKS run chase going with a 30-ball fifty, his sixth of the tournament, as he brought the equation down to 38 from an almost impossible 79 in four overs in the last two overs.
The Englishman converted it in style in the 17th over when Khaleel started with a no-ball for height and went for 20 runs.
Three sixes from Mukesh Kumar in the next over made the equation on course for PBKS before Anrich Nortje, who had dismissed Livingstone early, redeemed himself with a perfect penalty over.
Nortje conceded just five runs and was clean bowled by Sam Curran (11), while PBKS lost another run when Harpreet Brar was run out.
The DC bowlers chased down the tall PBKS target early with left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed dismissing Dhawan in the first ball itself.
From 10/1 in three overs, PBKS pair Prabhasimran and Atharva hit five consecutive fours (4×4, 1×6) in the last two overs.
DC, already out of the playoff race, got off to a brisk start with Prithvi Shaw scoring 54 on his return after nearly a month.
Shaw, who made his last appearance in this season’s IPL against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 20, returned to form with a 35-ball 50, his first in 13 IPL innings.
Shaw hit Rabada’s body in his 38-ball innings (7×4, 1×6) as he made his best start to the season with his skipper David Warner (46 from 31b; 5×4, 2×6).
The duo stitched together a 94-run opening partnership, their highest this season, before Rossouw took charge of the proceedings with his maiden IPL half-century off 25 balls.
Rossouw took charge when he sent his South African teammate into orbit with a six over long-off.
He then hit a boundary and then hit a six over deep square leg, as from there there was no looking back for the South African.
Rabada conceded 36 runs in his three overs, while Sam Curran took 2/36.
From six for no loss in two overs, DC scored 61 without losing a wicket in the powerplay, with Warner and Shaw sharing their biggest opening partnership this season after opting to bowl by PBKS.
This was the second time that DC did not lose a single wicket inside the powerplay this season.
DC got going when Warner hit Curran for back-to-back boundaries before picking up Rabada.
Shaw pulled Rabada for a boundary before Warner smashed the South African pacer for two sixes in three balls in the 17-run over.
Warner and Shaw took the Punjab bowlers to task and scored 50 runs in five overs.
Nothing went in PBKS’ favor on Wednesday, with Rahul Chahar dropping a sitter to relieve Warner on 39. Season.
(With inputs from PTI)
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