The many contributions of Axar

With David Warner out and DC reluctant to let Pant bat too early, they pushed Axar into the top three as the left-handed batsman. He struck Rashid for slog sweeps down the leg side before hitting both Rashid and Noor through the covers off short balls.

Part-timer Shahrukh suffered the same fate before Axar reached his fifty with a boundary off Rashid in the 15th over. He was the dominant contributor in a 68-ball 113-run stand with Pant and only fell on the boundary line while chasing a third consecutive six off Noor in the 17th over. The 66 was his highest IPL score.

Axar was then a livewire at the crease, first taking a catch at mid-off to dismiss Gill in the second over. He was in action again when Saha tried to cut Kuldeep over cover, jumping high and reaching out to take the catch. Then, having dropped Sudharsan early in the powerplay, Axar had a chance at redemption when he was late to take a tricky delivery at long-off.

With the ball, Axar conceded only two fours and a six in his three overs. Neither Saha nor Miller, both otherwise in fine touch, could get him out and it was only Sudharsan's three boundary shots that saw him concede 28 in three overs. Axar also dismissed Omarzai in the 11th over, but it was not enough to claim player of the match honours, which went to his captain instead.