Live Blog - Curran, Livingstone spoil Pant's comeback

The Porel gamble, bringing him as Impact Player, had allowed Capitals to post 174. But that also meant they were going to be a bowler short. When Ishant got injured after bowling just two overs, they really struggled to stop the flow of runs, especially with Mitchell Marsh conceding 52 from his four wicketless overs. The pitch also got better for batting as the lights came on.

All that meant Rishabh Pant ended up on the losing side in his comeback match. Punjab Kings, meanwhile, have kicked off their campaign with a win at their new home.

That's all from our side for this game. Meanwhile, at Eden Gardens, Sunrisers Hyderabad have opted to bowl against Kolkata Knight Riders. You can catch all the action from that game here.

With 28 needed from three overs, Capitals still had some hope. But Curran and Livingstone once again got stuck into Marsh, taking 18 off the 18th over.

Khaleel Ahmed got rid of Curran and Shashank Singh off successive balls. He could have had Harpreet Brar as well, but Warner dropped the catch at long-on. With Kings running two off that delivery, only six were needed from the final over.

Sumit Kumar, playing his first IPL game, had the odds stacked against him as he was bowling to a set Livingstone. He started with two wides. After a dot, Livingstone launched him over deep midwicket to seal the game.

Dustin Silgardo: Punjab Kings have gambled a bit by naming a short batting line-up. Even with Prabhsimran Singh coming in as the impact substitute, they have Shashank Singh and Harpreet Brar as high as Nos 7 and 8. Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma and Liam Livingstone are all batting a position up from where they did last season, which means Jitesh had to come in earlier than his ideal entry point.

While it might end up working out for Kings in this game, they may want to consider extending the batting in their next match. One way to do it would be to bring in Sikandar Raza for Kagiso Rabada, who went at 10.08 per over last season and 9.00 in this match. They would still have Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh and Sam Curran as frontline seamers, with Raza, Rahul Chahar, Brar and Liam Livingstone as the spin options. Curran ended up bowling just one over today since they had stacked the side with bowlers.

Kuldeep ended his four overs with figures of 2 for 21. He could have easily picked up a third but Stubbs, running to his right from long-on, put down Curran. He was on 33 at that point.

As if to rub it in, Curran hit two fours off Marsh in the next over, with Livingstone capping it with a six.

Curran got to his fifty off 38 balls.

In the tenth over, Prabhsimran tried to go big against Kuldeep but holed out to long-on. In the spinner's next over, Jitesh Sharma tried a reverse sweep but not only did he miss the ball but also lost his balance and came out of his crease. Pant was alert behind the stumps and broke the wicket.

Sam Curran is still in the middle, batting on 31 off 25. He has been joined by Livingstone but the batting after that is a bit thin: Shashank Singh, Harshal Patel, Harpreet Brar and Co.

Prabhsimran tucks one towards midwicket. Ishant charges in from the deep and fields the ball, but as he is about to throw it, he twists his right ankle.

He is on the ground, wincing in pain. The physio comes out, and Ishant is being helped off the field. Mind you, they are already a bowler short, since they brought in Porel as their Impact Player. Praveen Dubey is on the field as a substitute for Ishant.

Meanwhile, Shiva Jayaraman has dug out an interesting stat:

In the IPL, when bowling in a night game, Khaleel Ahmed's powerplay economy in the last three seasons is 6.5. He conceded a boundary every 6.35 balls.

When he has bowled in the day game, he has an economy of 8.8, and has conceded a boundary every 3.75 balls.

Today, he has conceded 28 runs from his two overs in the powerplay.

Dhawan came down the ground to Ishant, who was bowling around the wicket, and tried to hit across the line. In the process, he lost his shape and was bowled.

On the next ball, Ishant squared up Prabhsimran but the outside edge raced away for four. For the next boundary, though, Prabhsimran deserved full credit as he jumped out of his crease to smash one wide of mid-off.

But two balls later, Bairstow was run-out at the non-striker's end as a Prabhsimran drive brushed Ishant's fingers and crashed into the stumps.

Sam Curran comes out at No. 4.

Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow have shown great intent. Both picked up two fours each in the first over, bowled by Khaleel Ahmed.

Ishant Sharma shared the new ball but three of his first four balls were wides. The other one was sent to the boundary by Dhawan.

Nagraj Gollapudi: Over the last four days I have been coming daily to this new ground, which is a 30-minute drive from the centre of Chandigarh. It’s an open-air theatre with the PCA assuring canopies will be installed by the next IPL to cover the the upper-most, third, tier. The mid-afternoon sun is harsh, but that is tempered by a gentle breeze. But fans, who have come without hats or caps use the fliers as protection. They have already had to endure a significant wait of nearly an hour and frequent frisking by the cops, which borders on indecency. That comes after walking nearly two-thirds of a kilometre. Some missed more than half of Capitals’ batting. At the innings break, the sun has softened and the ground, with a capacity of 33,000, is almost packed.

While the PCA celebrate the inauguration of their new ground today, they, along with the Punjab franchise, ought to pay attention to make the fans feel welcome, starting with making the entry to the ground smooth without unwanted frisking, as well as the experience inside which will make them keep coming back.

Capitals were 149 for 8 after 19 overs. With Harshal bowling the final over, Kings would have expected to restrict them under 160. But Porel went bonkers and smashed three fours and two sixes in a 25-run over.

That lifted Capitals to 174 for 9 and Porel feels that's a good total as they have a strong bowling line-up. ESPNcricinfo's Forecaster agrees with him. It had DC's chances of winning at 38.9% at the start of the 20th over. They ended their innings with a 56.7% win probability.

An accurate throw from Tanay Thyagarajan caught Axar Patel short after the batter had turned back for a second run. The Kings fielders didn't look that excited at first but the replay showed Axar was out.

That left Capitals 137 for 7 with 2.5 overs to go. Which almost forced them to bring in Abishek Porel as Impact Player. On his third ball, Porel slashed hard at a wide delivery and picked up a boundary to deep third.

Harpreet Brar, who had conceded just 8 in his first two overs, returned to strangle Bhui down the leg side. The on-field umpire didn't hear the nick but UltraEdge showed a clear spike.

Axar Patel hit a couple of boundaries but in the 16th over, Rahul Chahar dealt a much bigger blow. Tristan Stubbs looked to go inside-out against him but ended up hitting it towards long-off. Shashank Singh ran in and completed the catch with a slide.

Nagraj Gollapudi: The moment Rishabh Pant has waited the longest in his life, so far, arrived at 4.06 pm on Saturday. David Warner had attempted to hook a magnificently delivered slow bouncer from Harshal Patel. Warner knew he had gloved and started walking back but the review extended the intrigue. Yards away from him was Pant, on the other side of the rope – ready to take his first steps back on the cricket field in his first competitive match since surviving a car crash on December 30, 2022.

As Pant walked steadily towards the middle, the PA announced the new batter. The entire ground, which is more than half full. stood up to give Pant a strong applause. It might not have been the roar Australia captain Lisa Sthalekar had imagined, but it was wholesome. Shai Hope, the non-striker, too, punched his bat a few times to join in.

Pant took a leg-stump guard. Punjab left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar angled the first ball away purposefully, forcing Pant to stretch fully to connect. With Pant having reconstructed ligaments in his right knee, oppositions are bound to test him on that front, as well as throwing to the end he is running to. Pant refused a two twice in his first six deliveries.

Such circumspections are understandable as Pant is taking small steps back to match fitness. On 4, he pulled Rahul Chahar, attempting to clear the deep midwicket, but was given a chance as Harshal was blinded by the gleaming sun.

But Pant could not utilise this second opportunity. He failed to read an excellent slower bouncer from Harshal, lobbing the ball to point for an easy catch. On his first day back, he has been dismissed for 18 off 13.

Bowling his third over, Rabada gets pulled for a third six as Hope clears his front leg and goes over deep midwicket. But the joy was shortlived as Rabada dismissed Hope on the next ball. It was a length ball, and Hope just chipped to extra cover.

That brings Ricky Bhui in the middle. In the latest Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Bhui scored 234 runs at a strike rate of 184.25. More recently, he was the leading run-getter in the Ranji Trophy. Capitals need a bit of both from him today.

Despite hitting a six and a four, thanks to a misfield, Hope has reached only 17 off 15 balls. Should Capitals have gone with Fraser-McGurk? Have your say.

Meanwhile, Harshal Patel has got Warner caught behind with a bouncer. He was given not out on the field but Kings got the decision reversed on review. In walks Rishabh Pant and the commentators on air said he got a standing ovation from the crowd.

Marsh was looking dangerous. After two fours in the opening over, he welcomed Rabada with a six over deep square leg. In the next over, he launched Arshdeep over long-off, but on the very next ball, he drove one uppishly and was caught at cover-point. Rahul Chahar took a sharp, overhead catch there.

That brings Shai Hope to the crease. Once an anchor even in ODIs, Hope has really upped his hitting skills recently. In 2023, he scored 824 ODI runs at an average of 68.66 and a strike rate of 100.73. Before that, he had never touched a strike rate of 80 in a year. Having said that, he is still more of an anchor in T20s.

With Prithvi Shaw not in the XI, it's Marsh who is opening with Warner. After Warner picked up a single off the first ball, Marsh picked up back-to-back fours off Curran.

In the next over, Arshdeep Singh, bowling from the North End, erred on the shorter side, and Warner smashed him for a six and a four. Both Curran and Arshdeep gave away a wide each as well.

Punjab Kings have won the toss and Shikhar Dhawan says they want to field first. It is a new venue and they want to see how the pitch plays, he says. Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran and Kagiso Rabada are the four overseas players for them.

Pant says they would have batted first anyway, as the pitch looks a bit on the slower side. "It's an emotional moment for me but I am trying not to think too much about it," he says. Capitals's four overseas batters are all batters: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Shai Hope and Tristan Stubbs.

A little earlier, Daren Ganga and Matthew Hayden did the pitch report. It's pitch No. 4 - hard surface, black soil, and not much grass on it. The square boundaries are the shorter ones: 64 metres and 67 metres. Down the ground, it is 75 metres. The wind is blowing across the pitch, which makes one square boundary relatively difficult to access.

Here are the XIs:

Punjab Kings: 1 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Sam Curran, 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Harpreet Brar, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Rahul Chahar, 11 Arshdeep Singh
Impact Players: Prabhsimran Singh, Rilee Rossouw, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Tanay Thyagarajan

Delhi Capitals: 1 David Warner, 2 Mitchell Marsh, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 5 Ricky Bhui, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Sumit Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Ishant Sharma
Impact Players: Mukesh Kumar, Abishek Porel, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Vicky Ostwal, Pravin Dubey

Jake Fraser-McGurk, the 21-year-old batter from Australia, has played most of his T20 cricket at No. 3. That is where he has been most successful as well: 408 runs at an average of 25.50 and a strike rate of 159.37. That last number is the reason why everyone’s so excited about him.

But there’s a problem. Capitals have got Mitchell Marsh almost locked in at No. 3. Moreover, Fraser-McGurk is an unknown quantity at this level. Does it make sense to bat him out of position? Tom Moody thinks no. But Wasim Jaffer and Mitchell McClenaghan think otherwise.

Meanwhile, Fraser-McGurk has already made a mark in Mullanpur…