Lucknow, Apr 22: KL Rahul scored a half-century on his return to the venue where he was shouted at and took Delhi Capitals to a massive eight-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants in Match 40 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday.

KL Rahul, who was LSG captain in IPL 2024 and was not retained after the franchise owner had an animated talk with him in full public view, scored 57 and along with skipper Axar Patel (34) secured victory for Delhi Capitals after Abhishek Porel (51) had laid the foundation for the successful chase.

For the bowling side, Aiden Markram was the only one to claim wickets on the day as he struck twice but in vain as DC raised 161/2 and claimed the victory with 13 balls to spare.

DC’s innings had a rollicking start as Karun Nair (15) and Porel combined for 16 runs off Shardul Thakur. It seemed as though the visitors had the upper hand in the run chase when Nair hit Markram for a six straight down the ground. The Proteas all-rounder came back in style as he castled over the stumps on the very next delivery. KL Rahul and Porel navigated a tricky period against the spin attack of Markram, Digvesh Rathi, and Ravi Bishnoi before hitting a six each off the latter.

Porel’s half-century was a combination of patience and acceleration as he reached the milestone in 33 deliveries. Rahul followed it with another six off Markram in the next over, but the spinner struck again with the wicket of Porel as he holed out to David Miller later in the over.

Delhi Capitals were in a similar position to LSG having gotten off to a good start but were rocked by the dismissal of their openers. The only difference is the composure shown by Axar Patel alongside Rahul.

As the latter gritted his way to a half-century in 40 deliveries, in an innings laced with three fours and sixes each, the skipper took the fight to the Lucknow bowlers, smashing them all around the park with four sixes and one boundary to his name. Lucknow showed signs of defeat when Prince Yadav dropped a dolly of a catch of Axar. Rahul, on his way to becoming the fastest player to score 5000 runs in IPL, sealed victory with a six as Delhi moved past the herd to second place in the table behind Gujarat Titans on net run rate.

In the first innings, after electing to bowl first, Delhi Capitals struck back after Aiden Markram (52) and Mitchell Marsh (45) gave their side a brilliant start.

Markram raised his half-century in 30 deliveries and seemed to be in top form before trying to clear Chameera’s outside-off delivery over the long boundary on the offside and was caught by Tristan Stubbs. Nicholas Pooran’s (9) time at the crease was short-lived as a slower bouncer by Mitchell Starc saw Pooran nick the ball onto his own stumps to deliver the second blow.

Abdul Samad (2) departed after being caught and bowled by Kumar. LSG were further pushed into trouble four deliveries later when a yorker by Kumar struck Marsh’s timber, sending him back to the pavilion.

With new batters in the likes of David Miller (14) and Ayush Badoni (36) at the crease, DC ramped up the pressure, limiting runs and restricting the boundaries with only four coming in overs 14 to 19.

However, Badoni took the fight to Mukesh Kumar in the final over with three consecutive fours before being bowled over on the fourth ball of the over.

Finally, after a prolonged wait for his appearance, Lucknow supporters were treated to two balls of Rishabh Pant’s (0) batting but were left disappointed as he was bowled over on the last ball of the innings as LSG were restricted to their lowest score this season.

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

--IANS

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