Anrich Nortje picked up the big wicket of Jonny Bairstow as the Delhi Capitals beat the Punjab Kings by 17 runs in the IPL on Monday.

The Proteas fast bowler finished with figures of 1-29 in four overs.

But it was a gritty half-century by Mitchell Marsh and Shardul Thakur’s four wickets that grabbed the headlines for Delhi.

Marsh’s 63 off 48 balls guided the Capitals to 159-7 against a disciplined Punjab attack led by England’s Liam Livingstone, who returned figures of 3-27 with his off- and leg-spin in Mumbai.

Delhi defended the total with fast bowler Thakur returning figures of 4-36 from his four overs to restrict the opposition to 142-9.

The Rishabh Pant-led Delhi are making a late dash to enter the playoffs as they jump to fourth on the 10-team table led by the Gujarat Titans, who have already booked a top-two finish.

Delhi got off to a horror start after being put in to bat first when David Warner fell first ball to Livingstone’s off-spin, giving away a catch to backward point.

Fellow opener Sarfaraz Khan hit back with a 32-ball 16 before falling to left-arm medium-pace bowler Arshdeep Singh, who ended with three wickets.

Marsh, who made a match-winning 89 in Delhi’s previous match, stood firm as Livingstone rattled the middle order with the key wickets of skipper Rishabh Pant (seven) and Rovman Powell (two).

Marsh attacked, batting with composure when wickets fell, and then accelerated in his knock laced with three sixes to boost Delhi’s total.

In reply, Bairstow smashed a 15-ball 28 but his departure and twin strikes in the sixth over by Thakur to send back Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Shikhar Dhawan hurt Punjab’s chase.

Slow bowlers soon took over with left-arm orthodox Axar Patel and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav getting the big wickets of skipper Mayank Agarwal (nought) and Livingstone (three).

Axar and Kuldeep took two wickets each.

Punjab slipped to 82-7 before wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma gave Delhi a scare with his 34-ball 44, but Thakur got him out with Warner taking a good low catch at long off.

© Agence France-Presse