Virender Sehwag, a former India opener, compared Harpreet Brar’s delivery that got out Manish Pandey to Shane Warne’s “ball of the century.” He went on to call the left-arm spinner’s performance “incredibly intelligent.”
On Saturday, May 13, Punjab Kings (PBKS) defeated Delhi Capitals (DC) by 31 runs in match number 59 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. He dismissed David Warner (54), Phil Salt (21), and Rilee Rossouw (5) before dropping Manish Pandey (0) with a ripper.
Pandey’s delivery pitched on the middle and leg and spun quickly to strike the top of the wickets. Sehwag informed Cricbuzz about Brar’s superb delivery and his bowling performance:
“Brar was incredible. To bowl an over in the powerplay and being hit for runs, the way he made a comeback in wonderful fashion. The ball that got Manish Pandey was like Shane Warne’s ball of the century. The ball that sent Warner packing was also good; Rilee Rossouw played a bad shot. But overall, it was very intelligent bowling from Brar.”
While Brar shone with the ball against DC, it was youthful opener Prabhsimran Singh who shone with the bat. The latter smashed 103 off 65 balls to score his first IPL century.
While addressing the duo, Sehwag made a cunning remark:
“This is the first time that Punjab won due to the Punjabis. Be it Prabhsimran or Brar, both of them play for PCA and PBKS, and won the game for their side with wonderful displays.”
After losing the toss, Punjab batted first and posted 167/7, while Delhi were restricted to 136/8.
“When those four wickets fell, the match slipped away from DC’s hand” – Sehwag
The former India cricketer criticised Delhi’s batting performance. Chasing 168, DC raced to 69 for no loss before faltering and collapsing to 86/4 by the ninth over.
Hitting out at Delhi’s lacklustre batting effort, Sehwag commented:
“When those four wickets fell, the match slipped away from DC’s hand. It was a poor batting display from DC. If the DC batters had shown patience, the runs were there and the result could have been different.”
Following the defeat, the Delhi Capitals became the first team to be eliminated from the competition for the IPL 2023 playoffs.