The Punjab Kings jumped to the top of the table with a close win against the Delhi Capitals. But what were the hits and flops in this PBKS vs DC game?
Today’s PBKS vs DC game was Match 55 of IPL 2026. It was played at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala, with the away team winning the toss and deciding to bowl first.
The Kings got off to a strong start and continued scoring runs at over 10 rpo. In the end, they would get to a fine total of 210/5
Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer were the stars of the first innings, both scoring half-centuries.
In response, DC lost three wickets in the powerplay too. But on the shoulders of half-centuries by Axar Patel and David Miller, and some fine hitting by the lower-middle-order, the Capitals won this match with three wickets and six balls in hand
Today, we will discuss three hits and flops from the PBKS vs DC game in IPL 2026 Match 55.
Three Hits And Flops From PBKS Vs DC Match
Hits
1. DC Middle Order Gets The Job Done
DC came in to bat second in this game. They had a target of 211 runs in 20 overs to chase. Seeing this, one would assume that at least one batter out of their top four scored some runs, but that was not the case.
The opening pair of KL Rahul and Abhishek Porel both lost their wickets in the first three overs, making nine off eight and five off four, respectively.
At No. 3 came Sahil Parakh. Despite hitting some solid shots, the rookie got out for 13 off six in the fifth over. Lastly, Tristan Stubbs played a supporting role alongside Axar Patel for most of his innings. However, before he could accelerate, he was run out in the ninth over for 12 off 17.
The score was 33/3 in the fifth over and 74 runs in the ninth over by the time the fourth wicket fell. The Capitals’ abetting order was in dire need of someone to carry them towards the target. This was done by captain Axar Patel.
On just his second ball of the game, Patel hit a six. He raced up to 25 off 12 by the end of the eighth over. After Stubbs was dismissed. He did not let his foot off the pedal, clearing the boundary once or twice in every over and keeping up with the required run rate.
Axar reached his first half-century this season in 28 deliveries amid a hat-trick of boundaries. However, he would get out later in that over for 56 out of 30.
After the skipper lost his wicket, David Miller took charge of hitting boundaries. Batting at 26 off 17 at the end of the 14th over, just after Axar lost his wicket, Miller picked the pace up and reached his half-century in 27 balls. He was batting at 39 off 25 at the end of the 16th over and started the 17th with back-to-back sixes and then got out just after.
Ashutosh Sharma and Madhav Tiwari would take the baton and run with it. While the former made 24 off 10 before losing his wicket in the 19th over, the latter was not out at 18 off eight.
Bowling all-rounder Auqib Nabi finished the game off in style. With six runs needed in seven balls at the point he came onto the strike, he hit a four on a no-ball and a six on the free hit to finish it off, making 10 off two.
2. Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer
Later in this article, we will discuss how the half-centuries by Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer might have actually been a loss for the Punjab Kings; for now, we can give the two their flowers.
Priyansh Arya gave the Kings the flying start he is known for. The Delhi-native hit two sixes in the first over to Mitchell Starc. He hit one more in the next over and then two more, along with a boundary in the third. At the end of that over, he was batting at 40 off 16.
However, before reaching the half-century, the youngster would slow down a bit, taking eight runs to make the next 10 runs. This included yet another six by him. He would get out in the ninth over for 56 off 33. And while his strike rate did dive into the end, finishing up at 169.7, the way he dismantled bowlers like Mitchell Starc and Lungi Ngidi in the powerplay was truly something.
Next up is Shreyas Iyer, who ended up being the highest individual run-scorer of this game. The skipper started his innings off in style, with back-to-back boundaries on his second and third balls. He would then slow down and start playing more cautiously.
By the end of the 11th over, he was batting at 19 off 13 but would soon pick the pace up. His half-century would come in 33 deliveries. And while this might not look like the fastest innings ever, which it certainly wasn’t, it was what the Punjab Kings needed at all, especially seeing how wickets kept falling regularly at the other end.
The team captain would end up making 59 off 36 without losing his wicket, anchoring the inning throughout.
3. Madhav Tiwari
Madhav Tiwari is essentially a rookie in the IPL. The Madhya Pradesh pace-bowling all-rounder did play a single game for DC last season, but bowled no deliveries and played just four balls.
Tonight was his first IPL 2026 match, and he was allowed to show his skills, which he certainly did. He bowled for the first time in the IPL in the ninth over of the first innings. On his first ball, four byes were given by the umpire. Even still, he conceded only nine runs in that over and took the crucial wicket of Priyansh Arya on the last ball.
He bowled his second over right after in the 11th, where he gave away just nine runs again. After a break, he was brought back into the attack in the 14th over, and he would concede just seven runs.
His final over would be the 18th one of the innings. Here, the duo of Shreyas Iyer and Cooper Connolly would punish him and make 19 runs. However, Tiwari would have the last laugh by dismissing the Australian batter. The Indian pacer ended his four-over spell with the impressive figures of 2/40, the best for any bowler in his team tonight.
But the game was not done for Madhav Tiwari, as he also had a stint with the bat. He came to the crease in the 17th over after David Miller’s dismissal. At this point, DC needed 41 runs in 21 deliveries.
On the first ball he faced, Madhav hit a boundary. Then, in the 18th over, he would hit a six and a boundary in the 19th as well. As the Capitals ended the game one over early, Tiwari ended his innings not out at 18 off eight.
For his fine spell and an explosive cameo with the bat, Madhav Tiwari was named the Player of the Match in Match 55 of IPL 2026.
Flops
1. PBKS Not Going All Out
This one is quite debatable. The Punjab Kings, while batting first, did put up a solid score of 210. This, before the 2024 season, would have been a winning total 99% of the time. However, in modern-day IPL, this score is par at best, and the Kings should have done better to score more runs.
We should establish that the pitch at the HPCA Stadium tonight was a flat one. There was a consistent bounce; the surface did not give anything to the bowlers, nor did the thin-air conditions in the mountains of Dharamshala.
Given that, Priyansh Arya’s 56 off 33 now seems slow. We have seen Arya demolish bowling attacks with greater urgency in the past. To be fair, the youngster did hit a half-century in 24 deliveries. But in the last over of the powerplay, he did lose a lot of his strike rate, which was over 200 by the time he reached his 50.
In the sixth over, Arya played four balls and scored just one run. A similar trend followed in the next couple of overs before he got out at the end of the ninth.
Prabhsimran Singh did not have a great showing in this game. The opener made just 18 runs in 15 balls. Then comes Cooper Connolly, who did hit a few massive sixes. But his 38 runs came in 27 deliveries. He played with a strike rate of 140 tonight.
Finally, Captain Shreyas Iyer. The skipper played a fine knock of 59 off 36, taking charge of PBKS’ attack while wickets were falling at the other end. But his runs came at a strike rate of 163. Seeing how the match ended, the Kings needed at least 20 more runs to put this one to rest. And if Iyer played with a 200 strike rate, which was beyond possible on this pitch, Punjab would have reached the 225-230 range.
2. DC’s Overseas Pace Duo
While the Delhi Capitals did win this game, they will take away a lot of negatives from this one. The biggest one is the dismal performance of their two top-class overseas pacers.
First on the docket is Mitchell Starc. The Aussie bowled the first over of this match and conceded 22 runs. He was then taken off the attack and brought back in the 10th, where he gave away 10 runs. Starc was taken off yet again and returned in the 15th over. This time, he gave away just nine, his lowest of the night.
The 36-year-old bowled his last over in the 19th. Immediately, he took two wickets on the first two balls of this over. But then came the downturn. In the next four balls, Suryansh Shedge hit the veteran for four and two sixes, a total of 16 runs.
Mitchell Starc ended his four-over spell with the poor figures of 2/57 and an economy of 14.25.
The other part of this dynamic duo is Lungi Ngidi. The South African replaced Starc in the powerplay to come into the attack in the third over. There, Priyansh Arya punished him and hit him for 17 runs.
He, too, was off the attack after his first over and returned in the 12th. Here, he gave away only nine runs. His third over came in the 16th, where he conceded 13 runs. His final over, which was also the last over of the inning, was his best one, where he gave away just seven runs.
Despite a solid end to his spell, the Protea conceded 46 runs in his four overs and took no wickets. His wickets came at an economy of 11.5.
3. DC Top Order
It must be acknowledged that it was the Delhi Capitals’ middle-order that saved this game for them. But that opportunity only arose for those batters because their top-order utterly failed tonight.
Coming in to chase a decent target of 211 runs in 20 overs, DC got off to a poor start. The pair of KL Rahul and Abhishek Porel opened the batting tonight.
In the second over, Porel, looking to start maximising the powerplay, drives a ball by Yash Thakur. Instead, he was beaten and bowled, getting out for five off six. This brought young batter Sahil Parakh to the crease.
The responsibility now fell on the shoulders of the veteran here, who was KL Rahul. But rather than save his wicket and score runs cautiously, Rahul, trying to flick a delivery by Arshdeep Singh in this over, launched the ball in the air with a leading edge and was caught out for nine off eight.
With Tristan Stubbs coming to the crease to join Parakh, Sahil showed off his elegant hitting, scoring a four and a six in the next over. But looking to keep the momentum, Sahil Parakh looked to upper-cut a low bouncer by Arshdeep and was caught at third-man, getting out for 13 off six. At this point, the Capitals’ score was 33/3.
Finally, Tristan Stubbs. The South African played a supporting role alongside Axar Patel for the majority of his innings. In the 17 balls he faced, he scored just one boundary and made only 12 runs. However, his demise was accidental. In the ninth over, there was a running mix-up between Patel and Stubbs, and the latter was run out at the non-striker’s end.
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