Delhi Capitals all-rounder and left-arm spinner Axar Patel was one of the star performers of their 17-run win over Punjab Kings in their IPL 2022 match on Monday (May 16). Axar claimed 2/14 in his 4 overs, including the wickets of PBKS captain Mayank Agarwal for a duck, to complete 100 wickets in IPL.


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Axar became only the second left-arm spinner to achieve this landmark after former Chennai Super Kings captain Ravindra Jadeja. The DC all-rounder dismissed Agarwal and Rishi Dhawan as Rishabh Pant’s side managed to defend 160-run target and keep their hopes of qualifying for the IPL 2022 Playoffs alive.



Axar only has 6 wickets in this entire campaign for DC so far, including the 2 scalps he got against the Kings. But, he is now only the 17th bowler overall in the history of the T20 league to touch the triple-digit figure in the IPL. For Delhi, Shardul Thakur was the pick of the bowlers with a 4-wicket-haul while Kuldeep Yadav also contributed with 2 wickets.


By the time Monday’s match ended at the D.Y Patil Stadium, Delhi won by 17 runs, thanks to a 49-ball 63 from Mitchell Marsh and with Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav dismantling Punjab’s batting order to displace Royal Challengers Bangalore from fourth place in the points table. Stitching back-to-back wins was something that pleased Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant.


“Playing throughout the tournament we have been losing one game and winning one game. That’s something we wanted to change as a team and we got it. The change of pace from Livingstone was good, so it’s part and parcel of the game,” said Pant after the match.


With Livingstone getting some turn to run his way to 3/27, Axar and Kuldeep too found turn for getting their scalps and leaving Punjab in disarray. “I can’t be too hard on Warney (Warner) because he has been playing fantastic throughout the tournament. The only thought process was to take it deep. We saw the spinners bowling well on the wicket. The wicket was slow,” observed Pant.


With Kuldeep’s googlies getting him good purchase, one was curious about him not completing his quota of overs. “We saved him for the back half and then the dew seeps in. So we didn`t want to give a massive over. It was 50-50,” stated Pant.


Delhi are now only one win away from IPL 2022 playoffs qualification. Their final match of the season will be against 5-time champions Mumbai Indians.


(with IANS inputs)