Punjab Kings created history as they chased down a record total of 264 against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Delhi Capitals were batting first and KL Rahul smashed a brilliant century to help Delhi Capitals post a total of 264/2 at the end of the first innings. KL Rahul ended up unbeaten on 152 runs from just 67 balls. Chasing the target, Punjab Kings started brilliantly with Prabhsimran and Priyansh Arya going all guns blazing. Shreyas Iyer played a terrific knock of 71* as Punjab Kings chased down the target with an over to spare. It was a brilliant game of cricket and a proper run fest.  

Priyansh Arya: We (openers) were talking among ourselves that if we try to score 80 in the first six overs, then we can easily make 100 runs if we bat smartly. That was the thing working for us. (What would you say about the pitch?) The pitch was very good. And I had belief that we could chase it. Earlier I thought the score would be around 240, and we could chase that. But when it became 265, I still felt it wasn’t impossible. If we had a good powerplay, we could chase it comfortably. I was enjoying it a lot (while Prabhsimran was batting.) I was thinking he should just keep hitting so maybe I wouldn’t have to take many chances. Ricky Ponting said that if we play our best game, we can chase it comfortably. And we are the best team till now in the Indian Premier League. So if we play our best game, we can chase it. Just keep self-belief.

Axar Patel | Delhi Capitals Captain:

Looking at the kind of wicket, if you don’t support your bowlers and keep giving away so many chances, then I feel we deserved to lose. That’s the main point. It was a good pitch and a small ground, so sixes were always going to be hit. However, when opportunities arise and you don’t take even one, you drop chances, as we did today. On a wicket like this, if you don’t back your bowlers, it becomes difficult. At the same time, we also need to look at our bowling unit. The way we bowled in the powerplay, the fast bowlers, the fielding, and the opportunities we missed were the main reasons. Because on a wicket like this, 264 was a very good score. If you look at the positives, we scored 264, which is a record score in the Indian Premier League. This shows that if luck goes your way a little and you take your catches, you can win two or three matches in a row. If you look at the matches we are losing, many were close games. That’s what I said at the toss as well, if we can grab the crucial moments, then two or three results could have gone our way and we could keep winning. But the key is that you have to seize those moments. It can’t keep happening that you come in every time and repeat the same mistakes. So I think we’ll go back, review it again, see what we can do, and where we can improve.

Read More: Axar Patel Captaincy Record

Shreyas Iyer | Punjab Kings Captain -

Absolutely. I'm running out of words, honestly speaking, because first of all, it was scorching hot to come out there and see bowlers getting hit for fours and sixes, you kind of lose your mindset. You don't know what to do in such a situation, but I know how the wicket was. We were actually presuming the wicket would turn, but there wasn't much turn to offer. Probably after the powerplay, when Yuzi (Chahal) came in to bowl, the ball was holding a bit, but wasn't creating much of an impact. Kudos to KL (Rahul). The way he played was fabulous and pleasing to the eye. (on his thoughts about chasing) In my mind, I was just saying that whatever they get from here on, I think we just have to score one more run and ensure we become victorious. And that was the mindset, nothing more, honestly speaking, because whatever balls the bowlers were bowling at that particular time, I think he was improvising and he was playing beautiful shots (on KL). So it didn't look like he was trying really hard. I just said to myself that if they can, we can too. (On the dressing room chat before the chase) We discussed that in the previous games, we chased around 220–225 with two overs left. So the mindset was very much similar. Get as many runs as possible in the powerplay and they just went bonkers from ball one and steadied the ship for us. And the rest of us, we just wanted to capitalise on the start. (Speaking about the bowling and fielding) Right now, we just want to have as much fun as possible and relax because we had three days of hard work, practicing in the heat and playing in the heat. So, you know, relax a bit and then the day after, we'll rejuvenate and probably go back to the drawing board to see how we can come back stronger and plan successfully regarding the opponents we'll be playing in the future.

KL Rahul | Player of the Match :

(How pleased are you with this knock?) I was very pleased, very happy at the end of the first 20 overs. It's something that I've been working on for a very long time behind the scenes. Just said this last year as well. I spent a lot of time with Abhishek Nayar. We talked a lot about how I can improve and especially white ball game, also red ball game. But for now, it was about doing well in the IPL and where I was at and what I needed to do to get better and catch up with the modern demands of T20 cricket. So I'm really happy to see that I could put that into work and score runs for my team and get them to what I thought was a winning total. (What are those areas that you work on?) Obviously, just to step back a little bit and see where T20 games have gone and what the demand of T20 cricket is in today's day and age. And watching the T20 World Cup, watching some of the young guys coming in and smashing from ball one and I've spoken about six hitting and that's something that I had to really work on and give myself that sort of freedom to go out there and take on the bowling from maybe ball one, ball two. There was a time where T20 game was slightly different where I as an opener could take some time and then accelerate. I had enough confidence in my ability that I could always, convert those starts and make it a big knock at the end, but today's demand is that the first six overs is the most important thing that in the power play, is to get as many runs as you can and put the bowling under pressure. So that's something that I had to sit back and see where I was at and what I needed to do to get better. But obviously I stuck to being true to my game, which is to play cricket shots, but also find a way to be aggressive and play proper shots. (How do you decide and when do you decide to have that shift to attack or to balance it out?) Look, in T20 cricket, that's the mindset I am in right now. And I was in that sort of mindset last season as well, that there's no time in T20 cricket to say later. You know, there is time in ODI cricket to say, maybe I can hold off for a couple of overs and attack at the back end. But as an opening batter, when you're playing in T20 cricket, that's something that I've watched and learned from the other guys who are playing international cricket and been successful is that there's no time for you to think, okay, I'm going to go next over. Yes, there are certain matchups which I feel aren't very favorable to me and the conditions in front of me don't allow me to attack a certain type of bowler. That's when maybe I'll fall back to hitting boundaries and six hitting becomes the second option. But throughout the innings, I've had to work really hard on my mental setup as well to tell myself that six hitting is what's required and trying to get 15, 16 runs in over is a must in T20 cricket.

Punjab Kings maintain their unbeaten record so far this season and they are proving to be a dominant side in this edition of the Indian Premier League. On the other hand, Delhi Capitals would be hurt with this loss and they were dominating the game in the first half but a collection of poor bowlers and drop catches meant that they suffered a defeat.