Delhi Capitals (DC) failed to defend 264 in Delhi on Saturday evening, with Punjab Kings (PBKS) chasing it down with seven balls to spare – the highest successful chase in T20 history.
PBKS’ victory was set up by the 116 runs Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya piled on in the powerplay. The second-highest powerplay score of all time in the IPL, their assault chopped the required rate down from 13.25 at the start to a far more manageable 10.50 after six overs.
On ESPNcricinfo’s Time:Out show, Carlos Brathwaite said DC did not do enough early to push the game out of PBKS’ reach, pointing to a lack of proactiveness in their bowling choices.
Axar Patel, the DC captain, gave four of the first five overs to Auqib Nabi and Mukesh Kumar, who conceded 87 runs at a blended economy of 21.75. Axar’s own over, the third, leaked 20. T Natarajan was the only bowler to keep things relatively quiet, conceding nine in his powerplay over, while Kuldeep Yadav was introduced as late as the eighth over, by which time the set batters had already taken PBKS to 127.
“When you bat and score 200-and-a-lot, you don’t need to be necessarily defensive but have a mindset that ‘this can be scored.’ I saw Natarajan bowl just one over in the powerplay,” Brathwaite said. “They could’ve been a little bit more proactive.
“Get Kuldeep [Yadav] on [early]. He may not get a wicket but he may stem the flow of runs for an over. Natarajan took the pitch out of play. If Natarajan and Kuldeep had bowled three out of the [first] six [overs], and PBKS had scored 65 in the powerplay, PBKS would have so much more to do.”
Brathwaite said that prolific start allowed Shreyas Iyer to settle and take control from No. 4 after the openers fell in the seventh and eighth overs. Shreyas finished unbeaten on a 36-ball 71.
“They did so much in the powerplay that when Shreyas came in, he could be eight off his first balls,” Brathwaite said. “[That would] never [be] possible if you need to score 19 or 20 per over, then everybody has to come in and go.
I think DC could’ve structured their game a little bit better. You know with 260 [264], you have to go from ball one and have to get ahead in the powerplay. Try to get wickets in the powerplay or bowl your best bowlers in the powerplay to be defensive but also push the required run-rate up to 20-21-22.”
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IPL 2026 – Dasgupta – Prabhsimran-Arya made it look easy
Deep Dasgupta and Carlos Brathwaite are all praise for the PBKS opening pair
Deep Dasgupta, meanwhile, reserved high praise for the opening stand. Prabhsimran made 76 off 26 balls and Arya 43 off 17. He said the pair were more than just hitters.
“Would you call that hitting? They were playing normal cricket shots. The moment you say hitting, the connotation is that they’re playing fancy shots, trying too hard, trying to muscle,” Dasgupta said on Time:Out. “But the beauty about that opening pair was about how easy they made it look. It seemed like they were playing normal cricketing shots.”
“They have really good options,” Brathwaite added, breaking down Prabhsimran’s approach. “As soon as he hits a good shot, he is ahead of the ball. He knows that the next ball that is coming is going to be a slower-ball. What does he do? On his bike, down the track.
“So he is able to play from the crease, he has the ability to charge, he can walk across and use the pace or he can tonk you back over the head. So as a bowler, when you get into a mindset of thinking ‘I don’t want to bowl this,’ the batter is ready. And that’s the situation that the opening partnership put into that bowling attack.”
