IPL 2020, KXIP vs DC: Who won yesterday's match?

The Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) defeated the Delhi Capitals (DC) by 5 wickets to record their fourth win of IPL 2020 and keep their qualification hopes alive. The victory was also KXIP's third straight win in the tournament, with all three incidentally coming against the top 3 teams in the points table.

KXIP were rattled early in their chase as skipper and star batsman KL Rahul lost his patience against Axar Patel. After Chris Gayle was castled by nemesis R Ashwin, Mayank Agarwal was run out following a horrible mix-up with Nicholas Pooran.

Pooran was involved with another terrible mix-up, but survived due to a mistake by keeper Pant. The West Indian then redeemed himself with a half-century with the bat. Although he and then Glenn Maxwell were dismissed, the duo had done enough for Jimmy Neesham to then finish off the KXIP chase with ease.

Interestingly, DC swapped key wicket-taker Anrich Nortje for Daniel Sams. With the left-armer returning wicketless, and with Marcus Stoinis and Tushar Deshpande having rough times with the ball, Nortje's wicket-taking threat was sorely missed.

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Shikhar Dhawan carries DC to 164/5

Southpaw opener Shikhar Dhawan carried on his form from the previous game to become the first player to score back-to-back IPL hundreds. This is quite some feat for a player - with no previous T20 hundreds - who was being criticised for a slow strike-rate not so long ago.

The problem for DC was the lack of support for the key man. Shaw continued his poor run, and unfortunately, none of Pant, Shreyas, Stoinis or Hetmyer got going. All the batsmen apart from Dhawan scored at just a run-a-ball, ensuring that DC finished with a very chaseable 164.

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IPL 2020, KXIP vs DC: Who was the Man of the Match yesterday?

Dhawan's imperious form took the team to a respectable total. [PC: iplt20.com]

Nicholas Pooran's quickfire fifty did well to soothe the nerves and take KXIP home. Glenn Maxwell too had an all-round contribution for his team. However, despite being on the losing side, it was Shikhar Dhawan who was declared the Man of the Match for his batting performance.

Opening the batting and staying not out, Dhawan's well paced innings contained 12 fours and 3 sixes as he took a particular liking to the KXIP spinners. This was a game where Dhawan did all he could, and yet fell short. Thus, because he was the standout performer who gave DC a chance of winning, Shikhar Dhawan was the Man of the Match in yesterday's IPL game.