Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The Delhi Capitals took on the Rajasthan Royals in the 32nd match of the IPL 2025 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on 16th April 2025. The match was a very closely contested affair as it went down to the very last ball with RR trying to scrape past the finish line but being restricted by DC’s bowling attack and forcing the match into this season’s first super-over. Batting brilliance from KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs took DC over the line with their fifth victory of the current season. The victory also takes DC to the top of the table with 10 points while RR's struggles continue as they suffer their fifth defeat of the 2025 season.
For the unversed, RR won the toss and opted to bowl first. A poor run of form continued for Jake Fraser-McGurk as he was dismissed for just 9 runs in the third over by Jofra Archer. Last-game’s hero Karun Nair was also cleaned up early for a three-ball duck. After this early fall of wickets, Abishek Porel and KL Rahul stabilized the innings, stitching an important partnership of 63 for the third wicket. Skipper Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs both scored a handy 34 off 14 and 18 deliveries respectively taking DC to a respectable score of 188/5 in 20 overs.
Mitchell Starc’s bowling brilliance forces thrilling contest into first super-over of the season
Rajasthan Royals started off strong with their opening pair of skipper Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal putting up a 61-run partnership for the first wicket before Samson had to leave the pitch due to an injury, being declared retired hurt. Jaiswal went on to score his third half-century of the 2025 season before being dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav for 51 (37). Nitish Rana put up another half-century scoring 51 off 28 balls, with six 4s and two 6s before being cleaned up by Mitchell Starc. Dhruv Jurel seemed to be taking RR over the finishing line with his knock 26 off 17 balls but a last-ball run-out forced the match into the first super over of the 2025 IPL season.
Batting first in the super-over, RR were able to put together 11 runs courtesy of Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer with Mitchell Starc in the bowling attack for DC. KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs walked out for DC while Sandeep Sharma was given bowling duties in the second part of the super-over. The two DC batters finished the job elegantly for the Capitals as they chased down the target in just 4 deliveries with Stubbs sealing the victory with a big maximum.
Next up, the Delhi Capitals are set to play the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday, 19th April. On the other hand, RR will also take on the Lucknow Super Giants on the same day at their home turf in Jaipur.
