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MUMBAI: Australia’s Mitchell Marsh on Monday said it’s about “peaking at the right time” after he helped Delhi Capitals win their second straight IPL match to stay in race for the play-offs.


Marsh’s 63 off 48 balls guided Delhi to 159-7 against a disciplined Punjab Kings attack led by England’s Liam Livingstone who returned figures of 3-27 with his off and leg-spin in Mumbai.


Delhi defended the total with fast bowler Shardul Thakur returning figures of 4-36 from his four overs to restrict the opposition to 142-9 and win by 17 runs. The Rishabh Pant-led Delhi are making a late dash to enter the play-offs as they jump to fourth in the 10-team table led by Gujarat Titans who have already booked a top-two finish.


“It’s been one of those seasons where we’ve been stop start. In long tournaments like this, it’s about peaking at the right time,” Marsh said on his team’s first back-to-back win this season.


“I think over the last week or 10 days, we’ve played some really good cricket and that’s a really good sign. We’ve got one more to go. “We know if we win that, we’ll be in the finals (play-offs) and we can give it a real good shake. I’ve got great belief in this team.”


Punjab are on seventh spot with one game remaining and have a slim chance of making the final four. Delhi, searching for their maiden Indian Premier League title, got off to a horror start after being put into bat first when David Warner fell first ball to Livingstone’s off spin, giving away catch to backward point.


Fellow opener Sarfaraz Khan hit back with a 32-ball 16 before falling to left-arm medium-pace bowler Arshdeep Singh who ended with three wickets.


Marsh, who made a match-winning 89 in Delhi’s previous match, stood firm as Livingstone rattled the middle order with key wickets of skipper Rishabh Pant (7) and Rovman Powell (2).


In reply, Jonny Baristow hit a 15-ball 28 but his departure and twin strikes in the sixth over by Thakur to send back Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Shikhar Dhawan hurt Punjab chase. “I always like to perform in the crunch times,” Thakur said after being named man of the match. — AFP


Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 159-7 (Mitchell Marsh 63, Sarfaraz 32; Livingstone 3-27) beat Punjab Kings 142-9 (Jitesh Sharma 44, Bairstow 28; Shardul Thakur 4-36) by 17 runs.


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