Top Performer: Dhawan dazzles in DC win

There's never a dull moment when Shikhar Dhawan is on the field, especially when he is wielding his bat and on Sunday this was exactly what happened.

Chasing 167 for victory against Punjab Kings, Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw went after the bowling from the get go.

On Thursday, against KKR, it was Dhawan who had taken the backseat while Shaw went hammer and tongs. The roles were reversed on Sunday night as Dhawan took the lead.

He took a little time to get going after getting a fortunate boundary to get off the mark in the first over of the DC innings.

But once he started attacking, his shots were always on the money and pretty to watch.

Be it the punch off the back foot off Mohammed Shami or a cracking drive through covers off Chris Jordan, 'Gabbar' was a sight to behold.

After the Powerplay overs, particularly after Shaw's dismissal, Dhawan played well by timing his innings nicely. He built a partnership with Steve Smith to ensure the scoreboard kept ticking while the big shots dried up.

Dhawan kept his cool and did not allow the situation to get the better of him after losing Smith and once he had Rishabh Pant for company, he tore into Ravi Bishnoi and later into Shami, penetrating the gaps and getting the odd six. He got to his 44th IPL fifty with a six from pull shot in the cow corner region.

Dhawan stayed till the end and guided his team to a wonderful 7-wicket win.

His 68 not out sees him become the top-scorer of the season and own the Orange Cap.

He now has over 5,500 runs in the IPL and with the form he is in, Dhawan is looking good to catch up with Virat Kohli, who is the leading run getter in the IPL with 6,000 odd runs.

• TOP PERFORMERS
• IPL 2021