Delhi Capitals 211 for 9 (Ashutosh 66*, Nigam 39, Stubbs 34, Rathi 2-31, Siddharth 2-39, Bishnoi 2-53) beat Lucknow Super Giants 209 for 8 (Pooran 75, Marsh 72, Starc 3-42, Kuldeep 2-20) by one wicket
Ashutosh Sharma was going nowhere. He was on 20 off 20 balls. The required rate was over 12. Then he flicked a switch and decided to make Delhi Capitals’ opening game of IPL 2025, against Lucknow Super Giants in Visakhapatnam, all about him.
With 62 needed off 30, with four wickets in hand, Ashutosh went bang, bang and then some more as he smashed 46 off his next 11 balls to lead DC an epic one-wicket win with just three balls to spare. Arms raised he was engulfed by his team-mates as a bewildered Rishabh Pant, DC’s ex-captain now leading LSG, looked on.
LSG, sent in to bat and riding on Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh‘s whirlwind knocks, had posted 209 for 8. At one point, they had looked set for much more, even 250, but the DC bowlers came back in style, conceding only 48 runs off the last seven overs and picking up seven wickets. While Pooran and Marsh accounted for 147 off 66 balls, the rest of LSG’s batters managed just 55 off 55 between them.
DC were reduced to 7 for 3 in their chase and at most stages looked down and out, but they found a new hero in the debutant Vipraj Nigam, who walked out at No. 8, with 97 needed in 45 balls, and thrashed 39 off 15. He fell with DC needing 42 off 23, but Ashutosh made sure to haul DC over the line, finishing things off with a six down the ground off Shahbaz Ahmed.
