IPL 2019: Dhawan laid foundation for our win, says Iyer

It was Delhi's 2nd victory at home in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which not only earned them 2 more points but also helped them retain the third position on the points table

Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer Saturday praised senior batsman Shikhar Dhawan for outshining Chris Gayle's efforts and power Delhi Capitals (DC) to a 5-wicket win against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at Feroz Shah Kotla on Saturday night. It was Delhi's 2nd victory at home in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which not only earned them 2 more points but also helped them retain the third position on the points table. "We got a good start from Shikhar today, it made it easier for the batsmen to follow. He (Dhawan) has been giving us brilliant starts. If you get 50 in the Powerplay it's really good and we got 60 today," Iyer said of Dhawan who made 56 off 41 balls at the top of the order. Iyer, who remained not out on 58 off 49 balls, said it was satisfying to see his team through. Really satisfied on winning this one after losing three home games. The way we played, it was really good to see. Losing them was really disappointing at the start but we recovered well," he said. "Very satisfying to stay till the end. One of the top four has to stay till the end. I took the responsibility today and hopefully continue through the rest of the matches." He said the Kotla pitch was not suited for the kind of players his team has. "The kind of batsmen we have are on the rise players and love the ball coming on bat. But the pitch is really slow to play on. If you get set though you can get runs. Today I took the responsibility," said the captain who was also adjudged man of the match. About Nepalese leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, who took 3 wickets for 40 runs, he said, "He (Lamichhane) is a very confident lad. When he goes for runs, he comes back strong. He's fearless and positive in his approach. He benefits from Amit Mishra's experience also." Dhawan, on his part, said, "Very important for us to win this game. We want to qualify for the knockouts. We got better at finishing the game, but I still feel we have to get more better.”