The Delhi Capitals (DC) have claimed a comfortable victory over the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. With exceptional efforts from Mukesh Kumar, Mitchell Starc, KL Rahul and Abhishek Porel, the Axar Patel-led team has beaten the home team by 8 wickets and with 13 balls to spare.
KL Rahul makes LSG pay
At the centre of the victory was KL Rahul. The former LSG captain was let go by the franchise after a very public tiff with LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka. For the unaware, Goenka had chided Rahul on the field after a comprehensive loss against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). When it came to retaining players, it wasn’t a shock that Goenka let Rahul go to the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Having missed the chance to face LSG in Vizag due to the birth of his first child, Rahul made sure to show Goenka exactly what he’s capable of. In his Lucknow homecoming, Rahul managed to breach the 5000-run mark in the IPL and has become the quickest to do so, scoring his third fifty of the season and remaining unbeaten while chasing for the second time in 4 matches for DC.
Back to anchoring, but with a plan
Karun Nair had done his job in the powerplay with a small cameo. And since the target wasn’t huge, just 160, Rahul decided to play the role of the anchor. First, he let Abhishek Porel take charge and then let Axar Patel do the attacking. He held one end to make sure a collapse didn’t happen.
Chase Master KL Rahul
One must remember that Rahul has changed his T20 approach. He’s batting at number 4 now and has gone from an anchor to an aggressor. But that doesn’t mean Rahul won’t play according to the situation. He raced off the blocks against SRH and then paced his innings against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Now against DC, he’s anchored. Three very different innings from the best chaser of the IPL 2025.
KL Rahul states while chasing in IPL 2025
| Against | Runs | Balls | Average | Strike Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRH | 15 | 5 | 15 | 300 |
| RCB | 93 | 53 | – | 175.47 |
| MI | 15 | 13 | 15 | 115.4 |
| LSG | 57 | 42 | – | 135.71 |
| 180 | 113 | 90 | 159.29 |
Mukesh Kumar’s 4-fer
But Rahul wasn’t the only one who deserved the praise. It was some fine bowling from DC; they restricted LSG to 159. Axar, Starc, Mukesh and Dushmantha Chameera bowled exceptionally well. The DC captain didn’t take a wicket but was economical. Starc got the dangerous Nicholas Pooran’s wicket, and Chameera sent LSG’s top scorer, Aiden Markram, packing.
But it was Mukesh who was the standout performer. The pacer took his maiden 4-wicket haul, claiming Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, and Rishabh Pant‘s scalps. To remind you, only 6 wickets fell. So it was Mukesh who restricted LSG. It struck regular and ensured LSG got no momentum.
