Twitter Reactions: Mayank Agarwal's unbeaten 99 goes in vain as Delhi Capitals boss another chase

Mayank Agarwal’s unbeaten 99 went in vain as Delhi Capitals chased down 166 rather easily on the back of Shikhar Dhawan’s 47-ball 69 and brisk cameos from Prithvi Shaw and Shimron Hetmyer.

Having called correctly at the toss, Rishabh Pant opted to field suggesting the track was similar to the previous game. The Capitals’ bowlers stood up to the task, making early inroads and keeping the scoring under check, but a captain’s knock from Agarwal – standing in for KL Rahul who missed out after being hospitalized post sudden abdominal pain – who nearly scored 60 percent of the team’s score gave the Kings a competitive total.

Capitals strike early

Ishant Sharma started the proceedings with a maiden against Prabhsimran Singh, who never found himself going, and departed against Rabada, giving Steve Smith an easy catch to grab at mid-off. With crucial powerplay overs running away, Mayank Agarwal upped the ante, hitting a couple of fours against Avesh Khan, while Chris Gayle pulled Kagiso Rabada behind square for a massive six.

However, the pacer came up with a ripping full-toss, perhaps a missed yorker, but clocked over 140ks. Caught in an awkward position, Gayle entirely missed the ball that sent his stumps flying all over the place.

Captain’s knock from Agarwal

Struggling desperately for momentum early on, Dawid Malan – Nicholas Pooran’s replacement – found himself striking well below 100 as were Kings at the halfway mark. His painful run-a-ball 26 ended with a missed slog against Axar Patel that saw his stumps disturbed. Then immediately next ball produced a dramatic run-out, with both Deepak Hooda and Mayank Agarwal racing with each other at the same end before the third umpire confirmed that it was the former who had to depart.

Agarwal pressed the accelerator soon with time running out and luckily got a life at 60 when Lalit Yadav failed to hold a difficult chance in an over that Agarwal picked a six and four from. He followed that with consecutive fours against Patel to infuse some serious momentum in his knock that barely looked like reaching close to a century.

Kings continued to lose wickets with Shahrukh Khan holing out to extra cover off Avesh, while Chris Jordan being sent back by Rabada. But holding his end, Agarwal raced to 84 off 54 by the end of the penultimate over. He sent Avesh Khan 4, 6, 4 in the final over, leaving himself with a six to reach triple figures. Although, he missed and remained unbeaten on 99 off 58.

Another day, another flying start for DC

In stark contrast to their opponents’ start, the Capitals were once given a flying start by the openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan, who added 63 off merely 38, picking boundaries consistently in the powerplay. The duo showed no mercy to Mohammed Shami, with Shaw picking 15 off his opening over and Dhawan following with two fours in his next inside the powerplay.

The stand was broken immediately after the powerplay ended as Harpreet Brar cleaned up Shaw (39 off 22). That did not prove of much help as Dhawan and Steve Smith joined forces to score down 48 from the target in a manner as calm and mature as possible. Even as boundaries did not come as freely after Shaw’s departure, neither of the batsmen pressed the panic button.

Dhawan seals it 

Riley Meredith got Smith caught for a 22-ball 24 but Dhawan ensured to stay till the end. He smacked Ravi Bishnoi over deep midwicket for a six to bring up his 44th IPL fifty from 35 balls. Scoring 15 against the young leggie, he brought the team within arm’s reach of a win.

Looking to finish things in a rush, Rishabh Pant played a brief cameo before skying a length ball from Jordan to extra cover. Needing only a run off every ball, Dhawan and Shimron Hetmyer sealed the game with 7 wickets and over two overs to spare.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: