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 to 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 six 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.

Ashutosh had been Punjab Kings’ finisher supreme in IPL 2024, playing blinders one after the other. But they often did not come in winning causes, with Ashutosh falling just short of the finishing line in thrilling chases against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. Now, playing for a new team, he entered the match as their Impact Player with DC in more than a spot of bother at 65 for 5 in 6.4 overs. He started slowly, taking time to find his touch, but made sure he didn’t throw his wicket away.

Losing Tristan Stubbs didn’t help, and at 116 for 6 in 13 overs, ESPNcricinfo’s win probability for DC was 1.46%. But Ashutosh has made fighting the odds a habit. He got excellent support from Nigam, who actually got the chase going. The allrounder first took on Ravi Bishnoi, carting him for two fours and a six in the 14th over, and then hacked Shahbaz for a four and a six in the next.

While Nigam fell to fellow debutant Digvesh Rathi, Ashutosh was in no mood to stop. He went 6, 4, 6 against Bishnoi and the equation came down to a manageable 22 off 12, though DC only had two wickets in hand. It came down to the last wicket when Kuldeep Yadav was run out in an attempt to sneak a bye and get Ashutosh back on strike, but that sacrifice seemed worth it when Ashutosh hit the last two balls of that over, from Prince Yadav, for six and four to take DC into the final over needing just six.

No. 11 Mohit Sharma was on strike for the first ball, and he could have been dismissed when he overbalanced, looking to flick Shahbaz against the turn. The ball missed his outside edge and deflected off his back leg, causing Pant to fumble a half-chance for a stumping, but he took a review for lbw; ball-tracking suggested the ball would have just missed off stump. Mohit then managed to push the next ball away for a single, bringing Ashutosh back on strike. Ashutosh walloped Shahbaz straight into the sightscreen, and the DC dugout erupted with joy.

New DC captain Axar Patel had said at the toss that he was bowling first because he didn’t “want to take a risk with the dew later on”. Unfortunately for him, DC’s top order collapsed even before the dew could take effect. And it was Shardul Thakur who made the early strikes. Thakur wasn’t even supposed to be at the IPL. He went unsold at the auction, and was supposed to be playing County cricket for Essex while the IPL was on. But the injured Mohsin Khan was ruled out and Thakur found a way in.

And in his first over, he had Jake Fraser-McGurk and Abishek Porel miscuing. There was excellent captaincy as well from Pant, who stationed a long-off for Fraser-McGurk. He miscued an outswinger in that fielder’s direction while attempting to go over the on side, and Ayush Badoni completed a good catch. Two balls later, Porel mistimed an outswinger to Pooran at mid-off.

Sameer Rizvi came in and creamed a cover drive first ball but fell soon after, giving the left-arm spinner M Siddharth his first wicket as DC slipped to 7 for 3 in the second over. Axar and Faf du Plessis did a repair job of sorts, adding 43 off 23 balls, but both fell in successive overs and DC were 65 for 5 in the seventh.

In IPL 2024, LSG were often found lagging in the powerplay. This season, they are on a mission to fix that, and Marsh and Pooran took on the responsibility. While Aiden Markram fell early, Marsh took on his countryman Mitchell Starc. Marsh, who is playing IPL 2025 as a specialist batter, piled on the runs in the powerplay – 43 off just 19 balls, the most he has ever scored in the phase in the IPL.

Pooran came in at No. 3 and the onslaught came from both ends. While Marsh reached his half-century in 21 balls, Pooran took 24 to get there as LSG crossed the 100 mark in the ninth over. Pooran was particularly severe on the spinners. He smashed 60 runs off just 18 balls against them, at a strike rate of 333.33. That included a 28-run over against Stubbs, with Pooran smashing his offspin for four back-to-back sixes and then a four. At the other end, Marsh was brutal against the quicks, going at 255.55 against them.

Pooran struck six fours and seven sixes in his 30-ball 75, while Marsh hammered six fours and six sixes in his 36-ball 72. When they were together, even 250 seemed to be on for LSG.

But it would all go awry, soon.

At 161 for 2 after 13 overs, the sky was the limit for LSG. ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster had them scoring 246, and they looked like going beyond. But Starc and Kuldeep brought DC roaring back into the game. Kuldeep first took out Pant for a six-ball duck, as he toe-ended straight to long-off. Starc then rattled Pooran’s stumps with a full delivery that tailed in late in the next over, the 15th. Badoni took Kuldeep on in the 17th and failed to clear long-on, and two balls later, Thakur was run out. Starc took out Shahbaz and Bishnoi in his final over, and LSG only added 33 runs from overs 14 to 19 while losing six wickets.

That LSG even crossed 200 was down to David Miller thumping Mohit for two sixes off the last two balls of the innings. That took them to 209, and for the longest time it felt like it would be enough. It wasn’t.

Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 211 for 9 in 19.3 overs  (Faf du Plessis 29, Axar Patel 22, Ashutosh Sharma 66*, Vipraj Nigam 39, Tristan Stubbs 34; Shardul Thakur 2-19,  Digvesh Rathi 2-31, Manimaran Siddharth 2-39, Ravi Bishnoi 2-53) beat Lucknow Super Giants 209 for 8 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 15, Nicholas Pooran 75, Mitchell Marsh 72, David Miller 27*; Mitchell Starc 3-42, Vipraj Nigam 1-35, Mukesh Kumar 1-22,   Kuldeep  Yadav 2-20) by one wicket

[Cricinfo]