With Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh raising 87 runs for the first wicket, Lucknow Super Giants were on course to post a big score against Delhi Capitals in their top-of-the-table clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
Dushmantha Chameera prised out the crucial wicket of Markram for 52 and Mitchell Starc castled the dangerous Nicholas Pooran (9) as LSG slipped to 99/2 in the 12th over after Delhi Capitals asked them to bat first after winning the toss.
Delhi Capitals' skipper Axar Patel pressed right-arm pacer Mukesh Kumar into the attack and ended with figures of 4-33 to totally derail the LSG innings. He started with two crucial wickets, sending back Abdul Samad, who came in instead of LSG skipper Rishabh Pant to attack the bowling, and Mitchell Marsh (45) to start the downward slide for the hosts.
Mukesh said the wicket of Marsh was the very important and the best of his four wickets as the Australian batter was set and looking to take charge.
Enjoyed bowling on this wicket... kept speaking to the captain, the length-ball was effective, was mixing it up with yorkers and slower ones. The best wicket was Mitchell Marsh, he was set and it was very important for the team that I got him out. Very excited for this performance and hope to carry it forward.
After starting with Samad and Marsh, Mukesh Kumar claimed Ayush Badoni and Rishabh Pant, on the last ball of the match, as Lucknow Super Giants were restricted to a paltry 159/6 in 20 overs.
LSG skipper Pant said they fell 20 runs short and added that the toss played a major role in it.
We were 20 runs short, toss played a huge part, whoever is bowling first gets a lot of help from the wicket... we just couldn't get it away. It always happens in Lucknow, wicket becomes better in the second innings, that's how it goes, we can't make excuses but have to learn from it.
Pant was right as the wickets had eased a bit in the second innings as Delhi Capitals rode on half-centuries by Abishek Poral (51) and K.L. Rahul (57 not out) to reach 161/2 and won the match by eight wickets with 13 balls remaining.
Skipper Axar Patel contributed 34 not out as Delhi Capitals registered their sixth win in eight matches in the season and joined Gujarat Titans at the top with 12 points, placed second on net run rate.
It was a very crucial and satisfying win for Delhi Capitals and K.L Rahul -- DC because leading the other side was Rishabh Pant, who was their captain till last year and was not retained. Rahul was not retained and his departure from Lucknow Super Giants was quite acrimonious too. Rahul also set a record by becoming the fastest batter to reach 5000 runs in IPL.
Rahul reached the milestone in 130 innings and beat the likes of David Warner (135), Virat Kohli (157), AB de Villiers (161) and Shikhar Dhawan (168) in the list.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 159/6 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 52, Mitchell Marsh 45; Mukesh Kumar 4-33) lost to Delhi Capitals 161/2 in 17.5 overs (KL Rahul 57*, Abhishek Porel 51, Axar Patel 34*; Aiden Markram 2-30) by eight wickets
