Ashutosh Sharma leads the Delhi Capitals to an exciting one-wicket victory over the Lucknow Super Giants.
The Delhi Capitals won a thrilling match by a narrow margin of one wicket with to Ashutosh Sharma's 66 from 31 balls. At the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, the Delhi Capitals defeated the Lucknow Super Giants to begin their IPL 2025 campaign.
Ankush Pandey
In the Delhi Capitals' Indian Premier League 2025 opener against the Lucknow Super Giants on Monday, March 24, at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, Ashutosh Sharma pulled off a heist. Ashutosh Sharma and Vipraj Nigam worked well together to bring DC close in a 210-run chase with their backs against the wall before the former led the Capitals to a historic one-wicket victory.
Ashutosh pulled the victory out of the jaws of loss with a stunning performance in which he hammered 66 from 31 balls. When DC reached 65/5 in the seventh over of the tall chase, they were done and done. But Ashutosh, Tristan Stubbs, and Vipraj Nigam, the impact sub, persisted. After a change of ball, Stubbs and Ashutosh set up a 48-run partnership to help the Capitals get back into the chase, but just when things were looking up thanks to the South African's two sixes, he was removed by Manimaran Siddharth.
Ashutosh and the unidentified Vipraj were in the middle, and DC still needed 97 from 45 balls, putting them in danger of losing the match once more. But in a 55-run stand that put them back in the game, the spin-bowling batter made a spectacular entrance by smashing a vital 39 off 15 balls. But when Vipraj was caught out in the 17th over following the time-break, the game changed course once more.
Mitchell Starc was hit by Ravi Bishnoi, but Ashutosh hit him for two sixes and a four before dismissing Prince Yadav in the following over. Before the batters took a single off the next ball, LSG captain Rishabh Pant squandered a stumping opportunity against Mohit Sharma with six needed in Shahbaz Ahmed's last over. To lead the team home, Ashutosh then hit a six on Shahbaz's longer one.
The Lucknow Super Giants scored 209/8 while batting first. A great foundation for a strong finish was laid by Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh, who both hit scorching fifties. The Capitals, however, struck and stopped the momentum. After 161/2, LSG dropped to 177/6. But LSG reached 209/8 as David Miller hit two sixes off the last two balls.
Delhi Capitals' Playing XI:
Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel (wk), Faf du Plessis, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel (c), Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Ashutosh Sharma
Lucknow Super Giants' Playing XI:
Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Prince Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, David Miller, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Manimaran Siddharth
More to follow...
