Delhi Capitals opener Shikhar Dhawan blasted a second successive unbeaten hundred in the IPL on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.
Dhawan, who scored an unbeaten 101 off 58 against the Chennai Super Kings in DC's last game, smashed 12 fours and three sixes in his 61 balls 106-run knock to become the first batsmen to score back-to-back centuries in IPL.
The left-hander joined IPL's 5,000-run elite club, comprising Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and David Warner.
He also became only the second Indian to score multiple centuries in one season of the IPL, after Royal Challengers Bangalore Captain Kohli, who scored four tons in the 2016 season.
It seemed as if Dhawan was batting on a surface to his liking, as the second-highest score of the innings came from DC Skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, who made 14 each.
Dhawan paced his innings well and did not play any rash shots. Perhaps he studied the conditions well, because the Dubai pitch was nothing like the wicket in Sharjah on which he scored a century against CSK.
He built his innings by slog-sweeping off-spinner Glenn Maxwell in the opening over.
Prithvi Shaw, who failed to get off the mark in the previous two games, perished cheaply again, trying to smash James Neesham over extra cover when he was in no position to play that aerial stroke.
Iyer too did not last long after getting off the mark with a lofted cover drive that went for a six with Delhi reaching 83 for two in 10 overs.
While wickets were falling, at the other end, Dhawan stayed cool and grew in confidence. An example of that was the way he drove a full delivery from Mohammed Shami over mid-off.
It wasn't surprising that he launched into celebrating after getting to his century with a double off left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh.
On the back of Dhawan's ton, Delhi Capitals set a target of 165 for KXIP to chase. Nicholas Pooran smashed a 28-ball 53 as Kings XI Punjab scored 167 for five in 19 overs to notch up their third successive win in the tournament.
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