Two centuries in two matches, Shikhar Dhawan made batting look like a cakewalk as he lit up the Dubai International Stadium with 12 boundaries and three sixes to reach his hundred in 57 balls.

167 IPL matches and not a single century for the Indian opener seemed a little unfair to his otherwise superficial statistics. However, Dhawan stamped his authority first getting his maiden century against Chennai Super Kings and then he followed it up with one more against Kings XI Punjab.

No other batsman in the history of the league has achieved the feat of scoring two hundreds in consecutive matches. But Dhawan being the ‘Gabbar’ that he is, went after Punjab’s best bowlers in the powerplay and then made his way to the triple-figure mark.

The former Sunrisers Hyderabad player also reached the 5000-run mark in the T20 league, as he remained unbeaten.

After managing a quick recovery post Prithvi Shaw’s early dismissal, Dhawan kept hitting boundaries at regular intervals, helping his team reach 53 runs at the end of the powerplay. The left-handed opener stitched a brief 48-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer, following it with a 33-run stand with Rishabh Pant.

With Dhawan firing at a strike rate of over 170, a 180-run target didn’t seem much difficult for the Delhi Capitals when they stepped into the 16th over with 117 runs on the board. However, a decent comeback by the Punjab bowlers in the death overs restricted Delhi to 164, which is the lowest score in the IPL with a century involved. Shikhar Dhawan is now ranked second in the run-scorers table with 429 runs against his name.