IPL 2020: Mohammed Shami claims his best figures in the IPL; starts the new season on dominant note

Dubai, Sep 20: India seamer Mohammed Shami set the stage on fire with his impressive bowling in his opening game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. The Kings XI Punjab pacer displayed his bowling prowess after his captain KL Rahul won the toss and elected to bowl against Delhi Capitals in the second league match of the IPL 2020.

Bowling the second over for his side, the talented right-arm India pacer troubled Prithvi Shaw with his superb line and length and had almost got the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan in his very first over, but wicketkeeper Rahul failed to take a catch behind the stumps. However, Dhawan was dismissed run-out due to the miscommunication with Shaw, who was standing at the non-striker's end.

In his second over, Shami got rid of Prithvi Shaw (5) and Shimron Hetmyer (7) to push Delhi Capitals on the backfoot as the Shreyas Iyer-led side were struggling at 13/3.

After Delhi lost the wicket of Rishabh Pant in the 14th over, Rahul once again introduced Shami into the attack and he struck again on the very first ball of his second spell when he dismissed dangerous-looking Iyer (39). Iyer was caught by Chris Jordan as he mistimed the ball.

Shami thus achieved a personal milestone as he produced his best-ever performance in the league with figures of 15/3 from his quota of 4 overs. His previous best was 21 for 3 against Mumbai Indians.

Thanks to Shami's brilliant bowling effort, Kings XI kept Delhi Capitals' batsmen silent but Marcus Stoinis changed the course of the game with his explosive knock. The Australia all-rounder slammed 21-ball 53 and propelled his team to a fighting 157/8 in the stipulated 20 overs. Stoinis alone amassed 27 runs in the final over bowled by Jordan. The England pacer conceded 30 runs in that over as Delhi batters ended the innings on a high.