Indian Premier League 2021
IPL 2021: PBKS vs DC – Mayank Agarwal's astounding knock goes in vain
Mayank Agarwal scored a stunning 99* on his captaincy debut but was left undone by a solid DC performance
Mayank Agarwal was denied both the century as well as the win tonight [Credits: IPL]
Leading the Punjab Kings side in the absence of regular skipper KL Rahul who has been diagnosed with appendicitis, Mayank Agarwal made the big stage his own after a scintillating knock against last season's finalists Delhi Capitals.
The Punjab Kings batsman thumped the DC bowlers and managed to stay until the end. In fact, Mayank missed a century on his IPL debut as captain as he was left stranded on 99 by the end.
Responding to PBKS' 166, Delhi Capitals got off to a wonderful start in the Powerplay as usual, thanks to Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw. After Shaw was dismissed, Steve Smith played a handy knock before Dhawan and Hetmyer finished things off in style. Dhawan scored yet another fifty to reclaim his Orange Cap.
Here are some interesting numbers and facts from the game:
99 reasons to love Mayank
Tonight, Mayank Agarwal became only the second captain in IPL history to register a score that falls just one run short of a century. Virat Kohli had done the same in IPL 2013. However, there are some interesting parallels with the two innings.
Both the knocks arrived against Delhi Capitals (although the team was called Delhi Daredevils at the time). Both the batsmen faced 58 deliveries and both scored the majority of runs in the 23-run last over. Weirdly enough, Chris Gayle was bowled at a low score in both the matches. Spooky? We know right!
Mayank Agarwal's knock of 99 not out is also the second-highest score by an IPL captain. Sanju Samson, who had scored 119 runs against Punjab Kings in his captaincy debut this season tops the list. Both the knocks arrived in a losing cause with no other player scoring more than 26 runs.
It must also be added that the last five knocks of 99 runs in the IPL did not result in an outright win. Three games ended in defeat, while on two occasions their teams went on to win in the Super Over.
The Dhawan Show continues
Shikhar Dhawan has been excellent in IPL 2021 so far. Following his performance tonight, Shikhar Dhawan has become the batsman with the most runs against Punjab Kings in a single IPL season. Across two legs, Dhawan has plundered 161 runs in IPL 2021 so far.
He also overtook Gautam Gambhir to become the player with the most 50+ scores in successful IPL run chases. Dhawan has managed it 19 times in his IPL career.
Other miscellaneous facts
The name of Delhi Capitals appears in four of the top five highest Powerplay scores in IPL 2021. Tonight's score of 63/0 was their third-highest while the highest Powerplay score arrived against KKR when they were up 67/0 by the end of the Powerplay.
Rishabh Pant became the 15th cricketer to reverse sweep his first delivery for a boundary in IPL. Only Robin Uthappa has done it more than once.
Shimron Hetmyer's innings tonight was only the 10th in IPL history to last four balls (or fewer) and contain three boundaries.
