Mayank Agarwal, the Punjab Kings opener has said that batting in the 2nd innings of their match against Delhi Capitals wasn’t as easy as the likes of Shikhar Dhawan made it look in the latter’s facile win in IPL 2021 on Sunday.
Delhi Capitals made light work of Punjab Kings’ mammoth total of 195 on Sunday. Shikhar Dhawan scored a vintage 92 off just 49 balls while Marcus Stoinis (27* off 13) played a crucial cameo to take the team home with six wickets and ten balls to spare.
Mayank Agarwal: Batting Wasn’t Easy As It Looked In The 2nd Innings As Delhi Capitals Batted Well And Dew Played A Role
Speaking in the post-match press conference, Mayank Agarwal remarked that dew made bowling difficult for the Punjab Kings’ bowlers. The 30-year-old also lauded the opposition bowlers for their ‘beautiful’ death bowling.
“It wasn’t as easy as it looked in the 2nd innings. I think Delhi Capitals batted exceedingly well also there was dew as well. It wasn’t as easy. Also, credit to the Delhi bowlers for how they executed after the 12th over. That’s what we recognized that they executed their death overs beautifully,” said Mayank.
Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul gave the team an outstanding start with their 122-run partnership. At one point the duo was threatening to clear the 200-run mark easily. However, Lukman Meriwala broke the stand in the 13th over and Punjab Kings had to settle for a par score.
“I wasn’t thinking too much. I just planned to keep the mindset that worked for me last year. In the last match, I got a good ball, I didn’t want to stress too much about it and wanted to look forward so just went out there and stuck to what has worked for me,” signed off Mayank Agarwal.
Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul built a strong 122-run opening stand in the losing cause. Delhi Capitals (DC) bounced back with a victory after beating the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Match 11 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday. Shikhar Dhawan’s magnificent 92(49) at the top helped DC edge out PBKS as they chased down the target of 196 in a run-fest at Wankhede.
Earlier, PBKS, who were put in to bat first, was off to a flying start after Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul took on the debutant Lukman Meriwala in the second over and scored 20 off the left-arm pacer.
Mayank Agarwal then creamed two consecutive boundaries off Chris Woakes as the 50-run stand was up for the opening wicket and the duo was striking the boundaries in plenty on a belter of a wicket, scoring at nearly ten runs per over at the end of the powerplay. Mayank Agarwal brought his fifty with a four with an edge over the keeper’s head off Avesh Khan and PBKS was 94/0 at the 10-over mark.
The openers of PBKS were dealing in boundaries at the Wankhede as the 100 partnership was up for the opening wicket as well for PBKS. Lukman Meriwala came back to bowl the 13th over of the innings and provided the all-important breakthrough as Mayank Agarwal chipped a catch straight to Shikhar Dhawan at deep point and got out for 69 (36).
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals (Shikhar Dhawan 92, Prithvi Shaw 32; Jhye Richardson 2/41) beat Punjab Kings 195/4 (Mayank Agarwal 69, KL Rahul 61; Lukman Meriwala 1/32) by 6 wickets