After a see-sawing 40-over skirmish highlighted by Mitchell Starc’s yorkers, Delhi Capitals pipped Rajasthan Royals in a Super Over at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Despite losing skipper Sanju Samson to an injury early during the 189-run chase, Rajasthan Royals maintained their grip on proceedings almost till the end. It took the whole roster, from Yashasvi Jaiswal to Nitish Rana and finishers Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel, to take the game deep. But when left-arm speedster Mitchell Starc decided to roll up his sleeves with his famed yorker assortment, the league reconnected with the Super Over madness for the first time in four years.
Even the nerves of the tie-breaker didn’t hamper Starc’s irresistible accuracy, forcing the Hetmyer-Jaiswal-Riyan Parag trio to run hard between wickets, turning desperation into two run-outs with a ball to spare.
A 12-run target did not faze the Capitals as Tristan Stubbs landed the knockout blow into the crowd off a sloppy Sandeep Sharma’s fourth delivery.
Last-over Drama: Ice-cool Starc takes DC into Super Over 🧊🤩
🎥🔽 Relive the superb final over! | #TATAIPL | #DCvRR | @DelhiCapitals
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 16, 2025
Good, bad and ugly
Toss presenter Kartik Murali cross-checked Samson’s decision to field first on Wednesday with a touch of apprehension. Samson overlooked the six-game record at the Arun Jaitley Stadium since last season, when the team batting first had emerged victorious every time.
A slightly paler Kotla track aided Samson’s 150-115 kph combo of Jofra Archer and Sandeep Sharma initially until all the hard work was undone, taking Capitals to a defendable total.
Despite Tushar Deshpande’s 23-run second over against Abishek Porel, Archer and Sandeep returned with a fine concoction of back-of-length and stump-to-stump bowling to arrest the hosts’ early procession.
No. 4 KL Rahul would come up with a perfect illustration of the shot that Fraser-McGurk could not ace against Archer earlier on. Shortly after Sandeep nailed in loopy deliveries in the block-hole to close the Powerplay at 46/2, Rahul broke the shackles with an audacious six off Deshpande over long-off in the seventh over.
Story continues below this ad
Pairing up with the set Porel, Rahul’s aggressive ploy was curbed as spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga hit their lines in the channel. With the Royals getting through their overs quickly, Rahul’s manufactured pull to mid-wicket was nipped by Archer’s nagging back-of-length delivery before Porel holed out to the deep in the following over.
Axar Patel instilled momentum in #DC‘s effort with quick-fire 34(14) 🔥
🎥🔽 WATCH the impactful knock | #TATAIPL | #DCvRR | @DelhiCapitals
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 16, 2025
Axar catalyst
Emerging from the shed at No. 6, it was up to captain Axar Patel to restore the momentum. A five-ball sighter was enough before he unleashed his swipes across the square, raking six boundaries in eight balls of Theekshana and Hasaranga. His 14-ball 34 injection was followed by Stubbs and Ashutosh Sharma ransacking 35 runs as Archer and Sandeep erred at the endgame.
Archer’s extra speed was used against him shrewdly with a slew of innovative strokes behind the wicketkeeper for three fours. However, it was Sandeep’s seemingly-endless 20th over that provided the crucial kick. Conceding only 14 in his previous three without a boundary, the seamer’s attempted deliveries targeting the off-stump wide line went awry one after another.
After six attempts to land a legal delivery on the back of five wides and a no-ball, Sandeep copped a four and a six before regaining his length to finish an 11-ball over.
Thrills and spills
With another tall chase cast before them, Jaiswal and Samson hit overdrive from the second over with a six each. Jaiswal’s brutal takedown of Starc, highlighted by a scorching pick-up pull over backward square, brought back memories of the banter between them during the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Story continues below this ad
Despite Samson retiring hurt with a rib injury after powering Rajasthan past 60 within the Powerplay, Jaiswal ensured the equation remained in the Royals’ favour. After Axar castled Riyan Parag, Jaiswal shared some of his belligerent energies with Nitish Rana, who would prove decisive in neutralising Delhi’s Axar-Kuldeep Yadav combine.
📁 TATA IPL
↳ 📂 Super OverAnother day, another #TATAIPL thriller! 🤩
Tristan Stubbs wins the Super Over for #DC in style! 🔥
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/clW1BIPA0l#DCvRR pic.twitter.com/AXT61QLtyg
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 16, 2025
Collecting five boundaries off the pair in overs 15 and16, Rana cruised to his second fifty of the season before falling to Starc’s yorker trap.
The neck-and-neck tussle whittled down to the wire with Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer teasing the boundary men and the ring with a streaky six and scampers in Mohit Sharma’s 19th over, tallying 14.’
With nine to defend in the 20th, Starc brought on all the yesteryear heft of dominating the blockhole, limiting the opposition to eight runs to enforce more drama to a long Delhi evening.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 188/5 in 20 overs (Porel 49; Archer 2/32) beat Rajasthan Royals 188/4 in 20 overs (Jaiswal 51, Rana 51) in a Super Over
