Delhi Capitals (DC) have started the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season with a miracle victory. Facing Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, DC chose to bowl first. LSG raced off the block and looked set to score 250 at one point. DC were 7/3 in 1.4 overs. Then they were 113/6 in 12.3 overs. And still somehow won the match. All thanks to incredible hitting from Ashutosh Sharma and Vijrap Nigam.
DC Player Rating vs LSG
Ashutosh Sharma, 10/10: The lower-order batter wasn’t at his best. He was just 20 (20) at one point. But Vipraj Nigam’s hitting had kept DC in the game. From there on, Ashutosh exploded. He scored 46 runs in the next 11 balls and finished the match with a six to deal a memorable victory.
Vipraj Nigam, 8/10: Making his IPL debut, the all-rounder was taken for 35 runs. He dismissed Aiden Markram, who wasn’t playing that well, for 15 (13). However, when DC looked down and out, needing 96 runs in 45 balls and with just 4 wickets left, Vijrag scored 39 (15).
Kuldeep Yadav, 10/10: In 16 overs, six DC bowlers went for 189 runs and took 6 wickets. That’s 11.81 runs per over. Meanwhile, Kuldeep gave away just 20 runs in 4 overs and took 2 wickets. He got Rishabh Pant and Ayush Badoni. In his last 2 overs (14th and 17th), the spinner gave away just 2 runs.
Axar Patel, 7/10: He scored 22 (11) when his team was 7/3. One may have expected more, but DC were chasing 210. However, the big issue one can have is that despite being the captain, he didn’t bowl his full quota of overs. 3 over for 18 runs. Yet, he didn’t bowl the last over. Instead of giving Tristian Stubbs the ball, who went for 28 runs, he could have given the ball to himself.
Faf du Plessis, 6/10: Amid tumbling wickets, the vice-captain did fine. One wished he scored more than 29 (18), but when you need to score 10.50 runs per over, you can’t stop. If one’s being overcritical, then you can say Faf should have hit a six on the ball, he departed.
Mitchell Starc, 7/10: Going for 42 runs when the opposition scored 209 runs isn’t that bad. That’s about par. Starc took 3 wickets as well, which included Pooran, who scored 75 (30). He got the scalps of Shahbaz Ahmed and Ravi Bishnoi as well.
Sameer Rizvi, 0/10: Dropped a dolly to give a second change to Nicholas Pooran, who went on to score 58 runs in the next 24 balls. And then scored 4 (4). Rizvi would like to forget that happened today.
Tristian Stubbs, 4/10: One can’t fault that Axar gave him the ball, but he was thrashed for 28 runs by Pooran in one over. In a match where a 180 strike rate was needed, Stubbs played at 155. Although he did better than Rivzi, it was still a bad day for the Protean.
Jake Fraser-McGurk, 1/10: The Rooster only knows one way to bat, and he departed doing that.
Abhishek Porel, 1/10: Like JFM, the wicketkeeper batter looked to start with a bang but fell in the first over itself to Shardul Thakur.
Mukesh Kumar, 5/10: Bowled just two overs, that too not in the death, a place where DC have backed Mukesh to bowl. Got the wicket of Mitchell Marsh, who had scored 72 (36).
Mohit Sharma, 3/10: He went for the same runs as Starc, 42. But unlike the left-arm pacer, Mohit got no wickets. He also went for 24 runs in his last two overs, in the death, despite being a specialist in the final five overs.
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