LSG vs DC / Delhi Capitals beat Lucknow by eight wickets - Porel and Rahul hit fifties

LSG vs DC: In the 40th match of IPL 2025 played at Ekana Stadium, Lucknow, Delhi Capitals defeated Lucknow Supergiants by 8 wickets to register a memorable win of the season. Everything went well for Delhi in this match - Mukesh Kumar's sharp bowling, Rahul-Porel's settled batting and finally Akshar Patel's aggressive innings took the team to the target.

Lucknow's solid start, then disintegration

Losing the toss and batting first, Lucknow Supergiants got off to a good start. The pair of Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh put the team in a strong position by sharing 87 runs for the first wicket. Markram played an aggressive innings of 52 runs in 33 balls, in which he hit two fours and three sixes. At the same time, Marsh scored 45 runs in 36 balls.

However, once the partnership broke, Lucknow's innings fell like a pack of cards. Four wickets fell in the next 23 balls. Delhi's bowling, led by Mukesh Kumar, started building pressure. Mukesh performed brilliantly and took 4 wickets, while Starc and Chameera got one success each. Kuldeep Yadav remained empty-handed this time.

Rahul and Porel's fifties, easy win for Delhi

Chasing the target of 160 runs, Delhi's start may have been a bit slow, but KL Rahul and Abhishek Porel played responsibly and kept the team on the path to victory. After Karun Nair was dismissed early, both the batsmen handled the innings. Porel hit his first half-century of this season, scoring 51 runs in 36 balls, which included five fours and a six.

Rahul once again proved his experience and played an unbeaten innings of 57 runs in 42 balls. With this innings, he also completed 5000 runs in IPL and became the batsman to touch this figure in the least number of innings (130), leaving behind David Warner (135 innings).

Axar's stormy batting ended the match

When Porel got out, it seemed that Delhi might come under pressure for a while, but captain Axar Patel adopted an aggressive attitude as soon as he came. He scored 34 runs in just 20 balls, which included one four and four sixes. He along with Rahul made an unbeaten partnership of 56 runs and led the team to victory in 17.5 overs. Rahul finished the match by hitting a six off Prince Yadav's ball.

Mukesh's bowling was decisive

Mukesh Kumar's bowling was an important reason for Delhi's victory. He put Lucknow on the backfoot by taking wickets continuously in the middle order. Taking 4 wickets and bowling with accurate line-length was proof that he can prove to be a game changer for Delhi this season.

Hero of the match

• KL Rahul (Delhi) – 57* runs, 3 fours, 3 sixes
• Abhishek Porel (Delhi) – 51 runs, first half-century of the season
• Mukesh Kumar (Delhi) – 4 wickets, changed the course of the match
• Aiden Markram (Lucknow) – 52 runs, 2 wickets

With this win, Delhi Capitals not only strengthened their position in the points table, but also completed the season's double against Lucknow Supergiants. Now it will be interesting to see whether Delhi's momentum continues in the upcoming matches or not.