Rahul, Nissanka star as DC back on winning track
The Delhi Capitals ended their three-match losing streak in Jaipur on Friday (May 1) thanks to the quick half-centuries of openers Pathum Nissanka and KL Rahul, who led the team to their highest chase in the history of the Indian Premier League. Riyan Parag's captain's knock - a stroke-filled 90 - and Donovan Ferreira's fiery cameo of 47* helped Rajasthan Royals to a strong 225/6 despite losing their explosive openers cheaply.
However, Rahul put together a 110-run opening stand with Nissanka and a 61-run stand with Nitish Rana to secure a seven-wicket victory. It wasn't Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, but Mitchell Starc was welcomed to IPL 2026 with a first-ball six from Yashasvi Jaiswal. That's all the RR opener could do, though - top-edging a full toss one delivery later to be out caught by the bowler himself. At the other end, Sooryavanshi got going with a four off the first ball from Kyle Jamieson, but the New Zealander caught him off guard with the next ball. It was only for the 20-run final over of the Powerplay that RR managed a respectable 56/2.
Delhi couldn't contain themselves in the middle overs despite getting the explosive openers cheaply, and the RR captain showed his return to form with a valuable hit. It was Parag who took the attack to Jamieson with a 6, 4, 6 in the sixth over to make up for lost ground in the Powerplay. He and Jurel worked together to score 102 runs, stopping the slide. The RR skipper counterattacked when Kuldeep was struggling in his first over and hit consecutive maximums against him for a 32-ball fifty. DC skipper replaced himself with a pacer, and Parag dished two a four and a flat six to turn that into a big over as well.
Axar returned after changing ends, and was hit for a six by Jurel but had his revenge next ball. Parag continued to work hard, defeating Jamieson once more at the back end with a hat trick of boundaries to climb to 90. Starc returned at death to send back both Parag and Jadeja in the same over, but Ferreira turned on the heat to help RR to a powerful finish.
DC were left staring at a massive 226-run chase to end their losing streak after a 14-ball cameo worth 47 that included half a dozen maximums and two more boundaries. Ferreira flipped the otherwise economical spell of Kuldeep with three sixes in four balls in the 18th over. He defeated Starc in the ninth with a six and a four, and Natarajan was defeated for 4, 6, and 6 at the backend in the final match. DC boasted a Powerplay with the bat as well as the new ball. For the first time this season, the opening partnership survived the six overs and even ended up putting thier second-best Powerplay score of all time.
Pathum Nissanka, who returned to the game after being dropped in the previous match, struck Jofra Archer for three fours and a six in the first five deliveries of his spell. Then, Nandre Burger was in the crosshairs. In his second over, Nissanka dispatched Rahul for sixes at both ends as he raced to a 23-ball ffity on comeback by the end of the fielding restrcitions, having already bookended his opening over by giving him boundaries. It was Nissanka show all along as DC raced to 78/0.
He wasn't as brutal early on, but Rahul switched gears against Ravi Bishnoi with a four and two sixes in his second over to take DC past the 100-run mark in the ninth over. Nitish Rana tore into the veteran spinner with an 18-run 12th over, and Jadeja struck to dismiss the dangerous Nissanka. However, Rahul brought up his 27-ball ffity before him. They put together a 61-run counterattacking stand that got Delhi ready for the massive chase. Together, they scored an 18-run over that drove Burger out of the attack and well past the 150 mark by the 14th over.
Deshpande and Archer succeeded over Rana and Rahul, respectively, providing RR with a brief opportunity to recover. However, the ask was down to a manageable 49 off 4.4 overs by then. Ashutosh Sharma and Tristan Stubbs combined for a 49-run unbroken stand, wrapping up their biggest chase in IPL history with five balls to spare to put behind the two recent stinging defeats at home.
On May 5, Delhi will play against the Chennai Super Kings at home. The Royals have a week before their next game, which is on May 9 at home against the Gujarat Titans.
