On Wednesday at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, Delhi Capitals (DC) beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a close game by 15 runs. This put Punjab Kings on the verge of missing out on the IPL 2023 Playoffs. But there were also some exciting moments, especially in the last over of the match.
In the last over of the game, PBKS needed 33 runs to win, and Liam Livingstone was doing great on 77. The England all-rounder hit Ishant Sharma’s second and third balls for a six and a four, respectively. The fourth ball was called a “no-ball” because it was above the waist, and it was also hit into the stands for 7 runs.
David Warner, the captain of DC, and Ishant Sharma, a bowler, were seen arguing angrily with the judge about whether or not the delivery was legal. Warner also looked over the decision for it to be called “no-ball,” but video showed that the ball was above the waist.
But the experienced Ishant Sharma kept his cool and bowled two dot balls on the next two deliveries. Livingstone was finally out on the last ball of the over, after hitting 9 sixes and 5 fours for 94 off 48 balls.
“Our effort on the field wasn’t good, but we’ll take the win. We lost the coin toss, but we made a smooth batter. After the uneven pitches at home, the surface helped. You want your home setting to be consistent. Warner said at the presentation after the game, “We haven’t been able to figure out what a good total is.”
Shikhar Dhawan, who was the captain of PBKS and was out on the first ball by Ishant Sharma, said that his team started to hope for a win after the “no-ball” call in the last over. “After that no-ball, we hoped that Livi (Liam Livingstone) would get a great knock because he was playing so well. Even my choice to bowl a spinner in the last over didn’t work out. Before that, fast bowlers didn’t throw the ball high when they had the powerplay. The plan was to do that, but we didn’t do it. It makes us feel bad. “Every time we have a powerplay, we give away 50–60 runs and don’t get any wickets,” said Dhawan.
DC moved up from the bottom of the table after their fifth win in 13 games. They now have 10 points, while the team at the bottom, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), only has 8 points so far.
