A game with high stakes ended with DC comfortably beating PBKS in the Northern Derby of the IPL. DC posted a par score on a slow and dry surface, with huge efforts from Mitchell Marsh and Sarfaraz Khan. PBKS started their chase strongly before losing their way in the middle overs. Jitesh Sharma was the lone shining point in an otherwise disappointing run-chase. We look at some of the key moments from match 64.
Mitchell Marsh – DC’s fulcrum
Marsh was the lone batter to cross the 50-run mark on a surface that wasn’t easy to score. He paced his innings superbly; after launching a stunning assault on Rabada to start the counterattack, he then focused on rotating the strike after a flurry of wickets at the other end.
On a pitch that was slowish in nature and offered good turn for the spinners, Marsh wisely picked his bowlers to attack. He is vulnerable against spin and extremely dominating against pace, and his strike rate in his innings was a reflection of that. When he reached his 50, he was striking at 186.67 against the quick bowlers, but against the spinners, he didn’t take risks, striking at just 96.15.
Ever since Mitchell Marsh started to bat at number three, he has transformed his T20 batting and has turned into a match-winner for his teams. Australia reaped rewards for that when Marsh helped them win their first-ever T20 World Cup, and now DC are still in contention for the playoffs thanks to back-to-back outstanding innings from Marsh at number three.
DC’s Powerplay counterattack
DC lost David Warner off the first ball of the match, yet they ended the Powerplay with 59 runs on the board. The three overs between overs 2-4 were hit for 40 runs, with Sarfaraz Khan being the chief destructor. As it turned out, it was a tactical counterattack from DC, which they decided after assessing the pitch.
Speaking after the first innings, Khan admitted that since the pitch was dry and slow, hitting against the spinners with the field open would have been difficult. Hence, the team collectively decided to go all guns blazing in the first six overs. Khan, who was included to open the innings, walked the talked, scoring 32 runs off just 16 balls and had the highest strike rate (200.0) of any player with a minimum of 10 runs in the match.
No spin against Bairstow
Since 2018, Jonny Bairstow strikes at 145 against pace and 129 against spin in the Powerplay. Bairstow got off to a flier and gave PBKS the perfect start, scoring 28 runs off 15 balls, before falling to Anrich Nortje’s fastest ball of the match at 152 KPH.
However, DC might have missed a trick by feeding pace to Bairstow on a pitch that offered a lot more turn for the spinners. It was even more surprising, as Bairstow has a horrendous record against the left-arm orthodox bowlers since 2020, and DC had Axar Patel in their bowling attack.
DC eventually won the game but they can’t afford to fumble tactically in their last game as it will decide whether they get to the playoffs or not.