At the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam, the Delhi Capitals defeated the Lucknow Super Giants handily to start their IPL 2025 campaign. On Monday, March 24, DC decided to bowl first in the league’s fourth match because Axar Patel believed that chasing would be the best course of action in Vizag.
But with the kind of battering his bowling unit took in the first innings, the Delhi captain realised it wasn’t the best option. However, the events of the second inning were nothing short of miraculous. Ashutosh Sharma delivered an incredible clutch knock of 66* from 31 balls, and DC won by three balls and a wicket to spare. KL Rahul was not missed at all by Axar & Co., who were without him for the game.
Talking Points
1. The park was filled with Marsh-mellow, Poo-run songs.
Mitchell Marsh, the opener, dominated the first innings, scoring 72 runs off of just 36 balls. The Australian cricketer hit six fours and an equal number of sixes in his knock. Nicholas Pooran, batting at No. 3, also delivered a few hard smashes, hitting the ball at 250.00, so his departure did not slow the pace of runs. The Caribbean batsman scored 75 runs in the 30 balls he faced, leading Delhi to 209-8 at the end of the first innings.
2. Minor stars illuminate Vizag
The night’s most prominent figures to deliver striking performances on the largest platform in T20 cricket were Prince Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, Manimaran Siddharth, and Vipraj Nigam. The ascent of lesser-known cricket players through the ranks is undoubtedly an indication that the IPL is headed in the right way and that these players will emerge as tomorrow’s stars as the competition moves forward into its subsequent seasons.
3. Ashutosh of Ratlam wins it for Delhi.
With 97 runs remaining from 45 deliveries and six wickets lost for 113 runs, even the Capitals had given up. With three balls remaining, Ashutosh, who was born in Ratlam, played a mind-blowing knock to sail through the sea of the 210-run mark, demonstrating that he had definite goals.
Despite being under tremendous pressure, Delhi’s Impact Player was by far the most impactful player of the day. The batter maintained his composure and exhaled with immense pleasure when the team won the thrilling last over. The fact that he won Player of the Match for the knock that featured five boundaries and five maximums is not surprising.
Who Said What?
Rishabh Pant, LSG Captain, said
I think the runs were enough on the board. The batters batted really well. We may have lost the momentum in the middle, but I think that was a pretty good score on this wicket. Definitely as a team, we are looking to take positives from every match and learn from it. I think the more we get basics right, the better we will get. We need to do the basics right more often.
I think they had two good partnerships between Stubbs, Ashutosh and… one more guy [Nigam] I think as the more the ball got older there was help for the bowlers but we could have done the basics more. We felt the pressure. It’s early in the tournament, and we are settling in. Luck plays a big part, if it hadn’t hit his pad, it would have been a big chance for stumping [in the last over]
Axar Patel, DC Captain, said
[On a thrilling win] Make it a habit that this is how it’s going to be under my captaincy. My decision making is also a bit up and down like this, [so anything can happen]. Sometimes there will be anger also [from fans]. Right now we won, so no one will say anything. In the IPL, we have seen a lot. Losing four wickets in the powerplay and winning the game, not seen it happen a lot but now cricket is changing so you just stay at the crease and apply yourself. As a bowler I feel it’s all a game of the mind.
If you think that you’re going to get hit, but you can also go for wickets. So it works both ways. [On the chase] I think the way they played the first six overs, I felt we gave away too many runs. We dropped a catch too. But we stopped them well in the last seven overs. So we had the momentum. When you see 250 could have been made but you stop them around 200, you feel confident. The way the players have been working hard and we all know the potential we have. To bat in the first match in a pressure situation like this, credit goes to [Vipraj Nigam] and hopefully they will continue to do well
Ashutosh Sharma, Player of the Match, said
I learned from the last year, because there wee a few games where I couldn’t finish the game, so I have been focusing on finishing games, even in domestic cricket. I have a lot of belief in myself that if I play till the last over and the last ball, anything can happen. Because you just have to stay calm, and believe, and think about what shots you can play that you have practiced, so that’s what I did today.
[On batting with the tail after Vipraj’s dismissal] Firstly I want to say Vipraj played very well. It was a good innings. I told him that if he is being able to connect, he should keep hitting. And I just stayed calm and didn’t take too much pressure on myself. I just want to dedicate this man-of-the-match award to my mentor Shikhar paaji
India
