Courtesy: BCCI/IPL
On Saturday, May 24, Delhi Capitals (DC) defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six wickets in the match 66th of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. After getting a big target of 207 runs to chase down, DC batting lineup put up a splendid collective performance, headlined by the youngster Sameer Rizvi, who scored his maiden IPL fifty to take his team past the finishing line in the last over.
For the unversed, Faf du Plessis, the captain of Delhi Capitals, who was standing-in the role due to illness to Axar Patel, won the toss and decided to field first. His decision paid instant dividends as Mustafizur Rahman took the big wicket of in-form Priyansh Arya before Prabhsimran Singh and Josh Inglis took the attack to the DC bowlers, bringing the PBKS innings back on track.
After Vipraj Nigam took the wickets of Inglis and Singh was quick succession after they were relatively set, PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer took charge of the innings and stitched together key partnerships with Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh. He got past his fifth fifty in the IPL 2025 before ending up with 53 runs with 34 balls to his name, an innings which included five fours and two sixes.
Marcus Stoinis took the mantle of providing the late impetus to the PBKS innings, scoring 44 runs in just 16 balls with three fours and four sixes, to take his team up to 206/8 total, while Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets for 33 runs in his four-over spell. In the run chase, DC got off to a fantastic start as their experienced openers KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis stitched together a stand of 55 runs before PBKS dismissed in quick succession by Marco Jansen and Harpreet Brar respectively.
From that point onwards, Karun Nair, who was picked in the Indian Test team on the tour to England earlier today, took control of the DC innings on his return to the side. He shared a valuable 62-run stand for the fourth wicket with youngster Sameer Rizvi before Harpreet Brar castled him down the leg side on the sweep shot after scoring 44 runs in 27 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Sameer Rizvi took the responsibility of carrying the DC innings in the death overs, taking down all the PBKS bowlers, to bring them across the finishing line in their 14th and final match of the IPL 2025. He ended up scoring an unbeaten 58 runs in 25 balls with three fours and five sixes, while Tristan Stubbs stayed not out alongside him with a matured innings during their 53-run stand for the fifth wicket.
