|| India Correspondent ||

Marcus Stoinis’ swashbuckling half-century in the latter part of their innings helped Delhi Capitals (DC) register a convincing win over Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in their first game of the 2020 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL).

Put into bat first, Delhi Capitals got the big blow as their opener Shikhar Dhawan became the victim of a run out on a 2-ball duck. Another opener Prithvi Shaw soon after followed his opening partner by giving an easy catch to Jordon at mid-on off Mohammed Shami. He handed over another breakthrough in his same over by dismissing Shimron Hetmyer for a mere 7 off 13.

The responsibility came upon the middle-orders – Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. Both are considered as promising talents for India and once again they proved that right. The duo started building the partnership slowly.

After showing no hurry and put up 32 runs in 8 overs, they took on Krisnappa Gowtham in the 9^th over. While Pant started off with a four through backward square leg, Iyer smashed a six over long-on. He again punished Gowtham in the 13^th over when he smashed back-to-back sixes and they both added 73 runs before Ravi Bishnoi bowled Pant for 31.

In the next over, Iyer too got out for 39. While Marcus Stoinis stood strong at the crease, their tail-enders failed to step up. Stoinis took all the responsibility on his shoulder, took on Jordan for a six and a four in the 18^th over as well.

He smashed three consecutive boundaries off Sheldon Cottrell in the penultimate over whereas smashed two sixes and three fours in the final over, registering a 20-ball 50 as well. His brilliance helped Delhi put up a decent total of 157 on board.

While chasing 158, KXIP got off to a steady start. Both KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal added 30 runs in 4.3 overs before Mohit Sharma provided with the first breakthrough. Rahul failed to manage an inswinger from Mohit and got bowled for 21.

Soon after Karun Nair too got out for mere 1 and in-form Nicholas Pooran went for a duck. And the bowler was none other than veteran spinner R Ashwin. Meanwhile, Kagiso Rabada also showed his brilliance by dismissing Glenn Maxwell for 1 and KXIP started struggling for 40-4 after 7 overs.

Despite the turbulence, Mayank stayed at one end and did his job to steady the ship. Sarfaraz Khan played a good cameo of 12 off 12 along with Gowtham – who scored a 14-ball 20.

However, it was Agarwal who nearly took the game away from the opponents. He took on Stoinis for a maximum in the 11^th over whereas smashed two fours off Anrich Nortje. He reached his fifty with a huge six off Mohit Sharma in the 18^th over and hit another one over long-off in the same over.

His swashbuckling knock reduced the score to 13 off 6. He smashed another six off Stoinis in the first ball and levelled the score in the third ball as well.

However, with much surprise, Agarwal failed to take his side to the finish line as he hit a full toss over deep backward point and Hetmyer took an easy catch there. Even the final ball witnessed the dismissal of Jordan and the game went onto a super over.

It was Rabada who bowled the over and his first ball went for 2 runs. The next two balls saw the dismissals of KL Rahul and Pooran and DC had to chase only 3 runs which they successfully did and started their campaign with a win.