Marsh hammers 63 as DC post 159-7 v PBKS

Delhi Capitals’ Mitchell Marsh during his 48-ball 63 v Punjab Kings yesterday. Pic/BCCI; IPL

Mitchell Marsh struck his second successive half century, making 63 in 48 balls, as Delhi Capitals (DC) notched up 159 for 7 in their crucial penultimate round robin IPL match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the DY Patil Stadium here on Monday.

Marsh came to the crease when Delhi lost batting mainstay David Warner to the first ball of the match from Liam Livingstone and stayed till the second ball of the penultimate over.

The lanky Australian hit three sixes and four fours, batting sensibly till he was caught at deep mid-wicket off Kagiso Rabada.

At the time of going to press, PBKS were 54-3 in six overs.

Apart from Marsh, opener Sarfaraz Khan (32 in 16 balls), Lalit Yadav (24) and Axar Patel (17 not out) reached double figures. Marsh put on 51 runs in 28 balls with Sarfaraz, the brightest of the innings, for the second wicket, 47 runs in 38 balls with Yadav and 37 in 29 balls with Axar.

Livingstone, who opened the bowling for Punjab, picked up 3 for 27 while Arshdeep Singh claimed 3 for 37.

Delhi got off to a shock start when Warner, who went into the match with 427 runs in his kitty, got a leading edge and offered an easy catch to point fielder Rahul Chahar off Livingstone. This brought together Sarfaraz with one down Mitchell Marsh and the two set about the bowling in earnest.