Livingstone’s remarkable innings of 94 runs off 48 balls proved insufficient in the final over of the IPL 2023 match between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Delhi Capitals (DC). The crucial moment came when a free hit was offered in the last over. However, Livingstone failed to find the boundary, and as Punjab lost all hopes of an unlikely win.
PBKS were chasing a mammoth 214 runs, before suffering early setbacks with captain Shikhar Dhawan being dismissed early. Khaleel Ahmed bowled a superb maiden over, wqhile Ishant Sharma took a wicket with his first ball, dismissing Dhawan. Prabhsimran Singh played aggressively and hit four boundaries, including three straight off Sharma.
Atharva Taide took on Anrich Nortje, hitting a four and a six, and then struck another four and six off Mukesh Kumar. PBKS were lucky after a missed a run-out chance, which would have ended Prabhsimran’s innings. The powerplay ended with PBKS at 47/1.
Axar Patel then took the wicket of Prabhsimran, caught at wide long-on. DC could have taken more wickets, but Nortje dropped Liam Livingstone, and Yash Dhull dropped Atharva Taide in Kuldeep Yadav’s over. Livingstone then capitalised, hitting a massive six off the penultimate ball of the over, taking PBKS to 75/2 at the halfway stage. PBKS also survived several run-out scares that worked in their favour.
Taide reached his half-century off 38 balls. However, PBKS retired Atharva Taide, bringing in Jitesh Sharma, who quickly departed without scoring. Shahrukh Khan opened his account with a six, bringing the equation to 79 runs off 24 balls. Livingstone then accelerated his scoring, reaching fifty off only 30 balls.
Livingstone nearly takes Punjab Kings home
Khaleel had Shahrukh Khan caught at long-on. But Livingstone responded with another six as PBKS scored 20 runs in the over. With 59 runs required off 18 balls, Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran smashed three sixes in Mukesh Kumar’s over, reducing the equation to 38 runs off 22 balls. Curran hit a four off the first ball of the penultimate over, but Nortje dismissed him, knocking down his leg stump with the next delivery.
O̶n̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶'̶s̶ ̶l̶u̶c̶k̶ two men's luck is another man's agony! 🙂 🙁
Relive that sequence of events 🔽
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PBKS faced consecutive setbacks as Harpreet Brar was run out, before Nortje bowled an excellent over, conceding only five runs. With 33 runs needed off the last over, Ishant delivered a dot ball. However, Livingstone smashed a six and a four before Ishant bowled a waist-high no-ball, resulting in another six. The equation was down to 16 runs off 3 balls.
But Livingstone missed a full toss. On the next ball, he mistimed a shot. In the end, Delhi Capitals won the match by 15 runs. PBKS ended their innings at 198/8 in 20 overs.
