Punjab vs Delhi: Key stats from the second highest successful chase in Mumbai

KL Rahul’s Team Punjab played yet another high-scoring match in the 2021 Indian T20 League, but this time ended up on the losing side as Delhi successfully chased 196 inside 19 overs on Sunday, April 18 at the Wankhede Stadium.

Punjab were put in to bat first and made a blistering start through KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal who forged a 122-run partnership in 12 overs. Their middle-order batsmen did enough to take the mantle from there as Punjab posted 195/4 in 20 overs.

Like their opponent, Delhi too made full use of the field restriction in the powerplay overs as they went on to score 62/1 during the phase. Shikhar Dhawan anchored Delhi’s chase and for the second time in three outings, he failed to convert his knock in a century, this time falling a mere eight runs short. But with the foundation laid, Marcus Stoinis and Lalit Yadav did the rest to take home the win for Delhi. This was the second-highest successful chase at Mumbai in the Indian T20 League in terms of the target to win.

A high scoring game as this is bound to produce some interesting statistics, and here we look at a few of them.

Rahul and Agarwal setting the stage

The duo of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal has been in blazing form in the Indian T20 League since last season. Their 122-run partnership yesterday was their fourth century-run stand in the league. This was also their fifth-best opening wicket stand for Punjab in the league.

Both players went on to score fifty. For Agarwal, it was his eighth half-century in the Indian T20 League, while Rahul went on to score his 23rd. For Punjab alone, Rahul has scored 21 fifty-plus scores which is the joint-most fifty-plus score for the team in the Indian T20 League.

Rahul seemed like he was on the back seat during the first six overs as he could only muster 23 runs in 24 deliveries. Between 7-15 overs though, he upped the ante and went on to score 38 runs in 26 balls.

Dhawan surpasses Virat Kohli

During the chase, Dhawan went on to score 92, which is now his joint fifth-best individual score in the Indian T20 League. Yesterday’s knock was his 43rd fifty and 45th fifty-plus score in the league. With that, he surpassed Bangalore captain Virat Kohli in the list of most fifty-plus scores in the league. Hyderabad’s David Warner still tops the list with as many as 53 fifty-plus scores.

Out of his 43 fifties in the Indian T20 League, 15 have come as a Delhi batsman and both of his centuries in the league have also come in a Delhi shirt. With that, he also surpassed Shreyas Iyer in the most fifty-plus scores for Delhi.

Dhawan scored a whopping 69.57% of his total runs through boundaries (64/92) and this is the second-most by a batsman in this season.

Mohammed Shami’s evident struggle

Punjab pacer Mohammed Shami was taken to the cleaners by almost every Delhi batsman. The veteran bowler conceded 53 runs in his four overs. He also bowled two no-balls and 10 runs were scored from the eventual free hits. Shami ended his night without a wicket and with an economy of 13.25, which was the second-worst figure among Punjab bowlers.

On an individual front, this was Shami’s joint-most expensive spell in the Indian T20 League. From an overall perspective, this was the joint fifth most expensive spell by a bowler against Delhi in the league.

Featured photo: Twitter / IPL