Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shikhar Dhawan took a blinder of a catch to get rid of the dangerous Delhi Capitals skipper David Warner when the two teams met on Wednesday at the scenic Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala.
It was an important catch from Shikhar Dhawan as it broke the 94-run opening stand between the DC openers, David Warner and Prithvi Shaw. The wicket went to left-arm seamer Sam Curran.
It was a slower-length ball from Curran that bounced a touch higher than Warner anticipated and got the top edge of his mistimed pull shot. It was feeling that the ball would land in the safe area of the vacant mid-off, but Shikhar Dhawan ran from cover position to take a stunning diving catch.
Shikhar Dhawan sprinted to his left and gave a full length dive and at the very last moment possible for him to not miss the ball. While he pulled both his hands out to grab the ball, it stuck in his left hand. Shikhar Dhawan felt the thud of the ground while landing, but even then the PBKS skipper didn’t let the ball release. He celebrated this superb catch in his traditional thigh-slap and the crowd was on its feet.
Watch: Shikhar Dhawan takes a one-handed stunner to get rid of Warner:
Absolutely Stunning! ⚡️ ⚡️
DO NOT MISS this brilliant catch from @PunjabKingsIPL captain @SDhawan25 🎥 🔽
A much-needed breakthrough for #PBKS 👌 👌
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/lZunU0I4OY #TATAIPL | #PBKSvDC pic.twitter.com/3j8NqsKJk8
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 17, 2023
Some fans even hailed this take from Shikhar Dhawan as catch of the season.
Clearly catch of the season
— Karan Joseph (@iamkaranjoseph) May 17, 2023
What a catch #gabbar
— Kailash Parmar (@__kk__parmar999) May 17, 2023
https://twitter.com/Anirudh8200/status/1658855276924252160?s=20
The Delhi Capitals piled up 213 runs on the board for the loss of only 2 wickets. Warner and Prithvi Shaw gave the team a blazing start with their 94-run stand before Rilee Rossouw took over and blew away the PBKS bowlers. Rossouw smashed 82 unbeaten runs off 37 balls with the help of 6 fours and 6 sixes.
Shaw, who smashed his first half-century of the season, said: “Definitely, after long (feeling good). Sometimes you have to work hard for it. This was the match, I had to work hard, you get the credit later. It’s coming onto the bat nicely. The new ball is seaming a bit but it’s a good wicket to bat on as well. There’s dew. There was dew before the game started as well. It’s the same. If you find the gap, it’s going nicely along the ground. It (finger) hurts, but I am sure I will be fine. I think it’s a very good score, it’s not really easy to bat in the powerplay as it’s seaming a bit. When you are hitting that length, it’s not easy to hit shots. Later on, it gets a little bit easier. The slower one is bouncing like a tennis ball. It’s going to play a crucial role for the fast bowlers if they are going to bowl slower balls.”
Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan had won the toss and elected to field first.
Teams:
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Prithvi Shaw, Philip Salt(w), Rilee Rossouw, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Yash Dhull, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan(c), Atharva Taide, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Arshdeep Singh
