The IPL 2021 just about provided enough - having reached the half-wark mark in the league stage with 29 completed games - to learn how India's T20 World Cup hopefuls fared in the competitions.
Shikhar Dhawan's delightful 69 dwarfed Mayank Agarwal's unbeaten 99 as Delhi Capitals defeated Punjab Kings by seven wickets in the IPL on Sunday to go atop the points table.
Shikhar Dhawan's unbeaten 69 and Prithvi Shaw's combative 39 helped Delhi Capitals register a seven-wicket victory over Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
Shimron Hetmyer finished things off in style, smashing two sixes and a four against Riley Meredith in the 18th over as Delhi achieved the target with 14 deliveries to spare.
Rishabh Pant and his men have won five of their seven matches and are sitting second on the points table behind league leaders Chennai Super Kings.
Earlier in the day, seamer Jaydev Unadkat pledged 10 percent of his IPL salary towards the COVID19 fight while Nicholas Pooran of the West Indies also stepped in to make contribution from his earnings.
Alarmed by the rate of Covid-19 spread across the country, DC recently launched a campaign for people, who have recovered from the disease, to come forward and donate their plasma.
Over the last two seasons, Dhawan scored 804 runs in 20 IPL innings at a strike rate of 152.56 with six fifties and two centuries. 186 of those runs have been scored in the three matches he played this season, a strike rate of 163.15
Dhawan's 92, laced with 13 boundaries and two sixes, came in reply to Punjab Kings' 195/4, who were put to bat first after Rishabh Pant won the toss.
In India TV's 'Cricket Dhamaka', the experts lauded DC's opening duo on its batting approach, and spoke significantly on Shaw's enormous improvement over the past few months.
Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 85 off 54 balls against CSK, said that he had already anticipated the bowling plans and field placements Dhoni's side would set for him.
Prithvi Shaw smashed a hapless Chennai Super Kings attack into submission with a brilliant 72 off 38 balls as Delhi Capitals romped home by seven wickets in an IPL match on Saturday.
Dhawan surpassed Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli en route to feat with his knock of 54-ball 85, laced with 10 boundaries and two sixes.
While Dhawan will be in quarantine, the other DC players such as Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Umesh Yadav and leg-spinner Amit Mishra have been training at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) since March 30.
Former Indian spinner Sarandeep Singh India should stick to the experienced opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan in the T20 World Cup.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan achieved the record during the final ODI against England on Sunday.
Dhawan has been a heavy scorer for Delhi Capitals in Indian Premier League, but his form in India jersey has been up and down.
Dhawan shrugged off the pressure in style as he notched up a well-constructed knock of 98 runs, painfully falling two runs short of his18th ODI century on Tuesday at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
The series is particularly important for the 35-year-old Dhawan, who failed to make an impact in the first T20 in Ahmedabad before warming the benches the remaining two games which India won.
The series will be particularly important for the 35-year-old left-handed batsman who failed to make an impact as an opener in the T20Is where he managed to get only one opportunity before being benched.
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