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It was a spirited performance from the Delhi Capitals bowlers as they rallied their team to a thumping nine wicket victory against the Punjab Kings at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday, April 20, 2022.
Things were not straightforward for Delhi heading into the game as they had Tim Seifert testing postive for COVID-19 -- taking the case count in their squad to six and throwing into serious doubt their participation in the match.
Once they were cleared after two rounds of testing, Delhi proved to be unstoppable on the field.
Punjab were looking to bounce back after Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan perished early, but they crumbled against Delhi's spin trio of Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
Part-time off-spinner Lalit Yadav provided Delhi with the early breakthrough when he got Dhawan (9) caught down the leg side in the fourth over.
Axar got the dangerous Liam Livingstone stumped for 2 in his first over and got the well-set Jitesh Sharma leg before wicket for 32.
Axar and Kuldeep kept things really tight in the middle overs, to further build the pressure on Punjab.
Kuldeep bowled a fine spell and not many Punjab batters could read his bowling. He was finally rewarded with two wickets in his final over when he dismissed Kagiso Rabada and Nathan Ellis.
Part-timer Lalit returned to bowl the 18th over when he dismissed Rahul Chahar (12) to finish with 2/11 in his two overs.
Axar was miserly as ever, taking 2/10 in his four overs, while Kuldeep continued his good showing in IPL with 2/24.