Dhawan's record ton can't halt Maxwell's Kings XI

Glenn Maxwell produced his brightest all-round performance of a disappointing IPL to date to help Kings XI Punjab spring an upset over Ricky Ponting's Delhi Capitals in Dubai overnight.

After again opening the bowling, Maxwell (1-31 off four) returned at a crucial juncture midway through the Delhi innings and responded with the big wicket of India star Rishabh Pant.

The Victorian then made a composed 32 from 24 alongside the more explosive Nicholas Pooran (53 from 28) as the two combined to for the decisive partnership of the match, adding 69 from 40 balls to put Kings XI within touching distance of their target of 165, which they soon reached with five wickets and six balls to spare.

It was Maxwell's first score above 15 (three not outs) from eight trips to the crease in this tournament and his was the best showing among an otherwise lean night for the Australians; Marcus Stoinis was out for nine, conceded 14 from one over and dropped a catch, while his Capitals teammate Daniel Sams made a respectable IPL bow with 0-30 from four overs.

Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan (106no from 61) became the first player to register consecutive IPL hundreds when he took to the Kings XI spinners with a stunning on-side assault.

The left-hander has scored an unbeaten 101 against Chennai in his last outing and repeated the feat against Delhi, making it four straight scores above fifty.

Yet ultimately it was very much a lone hand, as Kings XI's bowlers, led by Mohammed Shami (2-28), strangled the rest of the Delhi batting card, none of whom passed 15.

And once Chris Gayle (29 from 13) got the scoreboard ticking over for Kings XI, and then Pooran and Maxwell combined, a total of 5-164 was quickly shown to be insufficient.

Delhi could be ousted from top spot as soon as this evening when Royal Challengers Bangalore – who are just two points behind them – take on Kolkata.