DC vs RR Highlights: Delhi Capitals beat Rajasthan Royals in Super Over thriller

Sandeep Sharma is warming up. He will be bowling the Super Over. Stubbs is ready. Who’s coming along with him? Ashutosh or KL Rahul? KL and Stubbs are on the crease now. Sandy to KL, first ball: they go for a double. 10 more to go off last 5 balls. Next one sent for a boundary by KL. Sandy bowls a perfect yorker but KL defends and goes for a single. 5 off 3 balls. Stubbs finishes it with a sixer! Magnificent. Top quality.

Riyan Parag and Hetmyer will face Mitchell Starc in the Super Over. The first ball is a classy yorker to Hettie. The second one goes for a boundary. Single comes on the next. Parag faces Delhi pacer. A full toss goes for another boundary. And that was a No Ball! It doesn’t stop getting more thrilling from here. And this is followed by a mix-up that sends Riyan Parag back after a runout! We didn’t see that coming. On the next, batters go for a double and lose Jaiswal in another runout. Delhi need 12 runs off 6 balls.

The game is thrilling and these last six balls will be thrown by Starc. Hetmyer and Jurel want nine runs from this over. The ace pacer goes for a yorker. Comes a single. Next is pure quality bowling – he nails the yorker outside off. The batters take quick two on the next. It is anybody’s game from here. 5 needed off 3 balls. This gets intense. Are we looking at season’s first super over? 2 needed off last ball. Starc bowls to Jurel. They go for one and then another. And it’s a Super Over.

Kuldeep Yadav is done for the day. Mohit throws the next. Jurel hits a full toss into the crowd. Nitish Rana brings up his half-century on the last ball with a boundary. The over adds 13 runs to the total. Kuldeep Yadav sits hits on the boundary. Physio sees him and he walks off the field. Earlier in the game, Samson had to walk back after probably a strain or worst: rib injury. RR 158/2 (17)

This over has Kuldeep Yadav throwing to Nitish Rana. The Rajasthan batter hits a sixer, followed by a boundary on the second and third delivery. Yadav bowls to Jurel and it’s a big appeal. Umpire raises the finger. Rajasthan take review. Excellent review, decision reversed. 13 comes off this one. RR 145/2 (16)

Kuldeep Yadav strikes again. Just when Delhi needed something special! He tosses one up on leg, tempting Jaiswal to dance down the track. The batter obliges but fails to get the elevation or distance, sending a straightforward catch to long-on. A huge breakthrough and DC are suddenly right back in this contest!

Kuldeep breaks into a quirky, tiptoe celebration. Hard to tell what that was, but the joy is unmistakable. With the pressure simmering over the last few overs, you sensed someone was about to take a risk. Jaiswal did and Kuldeep made him pay. 5 runs and a wicket in this spell. Game breaks for strategic timeout. RR need 73 runs off 36 balls

Mukesh Kumar returns for his third over, with the innings having just hit a bit of a lull in the last couple of overs. But Nitish Rana isn’t waiting around.

First ball: Crack! A length delivery outside off and Rana pounces—carving it through the gap over cover. One bounce, four runs, and a statement shot to break the quiet.

Next ball, Rana swings across the line to a delivery angling in on leg, the ball thuds into his pad and sails to keeper Rahul. A loud appeal follows, and DC go upstairs with hope. But the replay shows daylight between bat and ball, it brushed the thigh pad. Review gone, tension stays. The current run rate is little bit away from the required rate. RR 111/1 (13)

Axar Patel struck early with a bit of magic. In his first over, he lured Riyan Parag into a leading edge, beating him in the air and letting the surface finish the job with just enough grip. One over later, Axar was back and this time he completely undid Parag, using subtle drift and sharp turn to breach his defence. RR 104/1 (12)

Jaiswal takes it out on Starc next. Hits 4-6-4. Him and Samson are spearheading the chase against Delhi Capitals. Total 19 runs comes off the over. RR 35/0 (3)

Jaiswal looks in the zone tonight. Hits a long 95 metre sixer. Cameraman loses track of the ball. It has been a tough over for Mukesh Kumar. First ball goes for a sixer from Samson’s bat. RR 16/0 (2)

Ashutosh Sharma and Stubbs have taken on Jofra Archer in the 19th over. Sharma hit two boundaries, Stubbs got one. Sandeep bowls last over. Another extra comes in. And comes another. And he bowls 4 wide balls so far. If that wasn’t enough, next delivery is a No Ball. Free Hit for Stubbs. And he makes most of it. Goes for a boundary. And Stubbs hits a sixer on the next. Delhi Capitals post 189-run target for Rajasthan Royals to chase.

Axar Patel maintains the momentum from the previous over to this one. Starts Theekshana’s over with a boundary. After two dots come two boundaries from Axar Patel. And comes another full-toss from Theekshana but this time falls into Jurel’s hands. Patel walks away. Ashutosh comes in to join Stubbs. Capitals still have enough fireworks. DC 146/5 (17)

Axar Patel starts Hasaranga’s over with a boundary which could have been a catch but a tough one! Delhi skipper hits another boundary and doubles it up with a sixer into the stands. Hasaranga creates a chance for Stubbs’ dismissal but Riyan Parag drops it! DC 130/4 (16)

Stubbs hits a majestic shot that flies into the crowd. What a sixer! With this the team total goes past 100. And after getting a life in the last over where no one appealed, Hasaranga dismisses Abhishek Porel one run short from his half-century. Skipper Axar Patel comes in. DC 106/4 (14)

Jofra Archer bowls the 13th over. No biggies in this over so far. Here comes the first extra of the game. And he strikes again, takes down KL Rahul. Stubbs walks in to join Porel, who’s playing at 49. Porel on the striker’s end. Archer doesn’t make it easy. Short ball angled across Porel and the batter needs to wait for more delivery to reach 50. DC 98/3 (13)

Rahul and Porel keep the scoreboard ticking. And comes a long sixer from homeboy KL. Theekshana is not having a great day so far. Ten runs come off this over. DC 86/2 (11)

And a mix up between Karun Nair and Porel proves in dismissal of Nair on Sandeep’s first ball. And the replays confirm it — Nair is just short at the non-striker’s end! Here’s what happened: Sandeep delivered a length ball from around the wicket, angling it into the left-hander and pitching it on off. Porel tried to pull but only managed a bottom edge onto his leg. The ball dribbled toward backward point. While Porel was still watching it roll away, Nair had already committed and was halfway down the pitch. The fielder fired the throw back to Sandeep, and by the time Nair turned around to scramble back, it was too late. No boundaries since last two overs. Two wickets lost in the last two overs. KL Rahul walks in. DC 37/2 (4)

After the Porel blitz in the previous over, Jofra Archer brings some relief to the Rajasthan camp by dismissing Fraser on the third delivery. Karun Nair comes in. And he was almost taken at the square leg!! What an over! Just one run comes from this Archer spell. DC 34/1 (3)

Porel welcomes Despande with a boundary over mid-on. The second one goes for a boundary again but not as neatly. Some luck for Porel. The batter turns up the tempo and send the ball for an 85-metre-long sixer into the crowds and this he follows by a cracking boundary on a slower from Deshpade. Not a second over that Rajasthan would have wanted. And he pulls another to deep midwicket. That went “0 to 100” in 5 balls! DC 33/0 (2)

Ace English pacer Jofra Archer is throwing the first over of the game. After the first two dots, Jake Fraser-McGurk takes on Archer and hits two back-to-back boundaries. The show begins on a high. DC 10/0 (1)

Both the teams have made no changes to their playing XIs for tonight’s game.

Rajasthan Royals Playing XI – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(C)(WK), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande

Impact: Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal and Kunal Singh Rathore

Delhi Capitals (Playing XI) – Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Axar Patel(C), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma

Impact: Mukesh Kumar, Sameer Rizvi, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreira and Tripurana Vijay

Skippers Sanju Samson and Axar Patel are on the crease along with match referee and Murli Karthik for the toss. Coin flipped. And Sanju Samson wins the toss and Rajasthan Royals opt to field first in Delhi.

Here are the players bought by RR during the auction:

Jofra Archer (Rs 12.50 crore), Maheesh Theekshana (Rs 4.40 crore), Wanindu Hasaranga (Rs 5.25 crore), Akash Madhwal (Rs 1.20 crore), Kumar Kartikeya Singh (Rs 30 lakh), Nitish Rana (Rs 4.20 crore), Tushar Deshpande (Rs 6.50 crore), Shubham Dubey (Rs 80 lakh), Yudhvir Singh (Rs 35 lakh), Fazalhaq Farooqi (Rs 2 crore), Vaibhav Suryavanshi (Rs 1.10 crore), Kwena Maphaka (Rs 1.50 crore), Kunal Rathore (Rs 30 lakh), Ashok Sharma (Rs 30 lakh)

Here are the players bought by DC during the auction:

Mitchell Starc (11.75 crore), KL Rahul (Rs 14 crore), Harry Brook (Rs 6.25 crore), Jake Fraser-McGurk (Rs 9 crore), T. Natarajan (Rs 10.75 crore), Karun Nair (Rs 50 lakh), Sameer Rizvi (Rs 95 lakh), Ashutosh Sharma (Rs 3.80 crore), Mohit Sharma (Rs 2.20 crore), Faf du Plessis (Rs 2 crore), Mukesh Kumar (Rs 8 crore RTM), Darshan Nalkande (Rs 30 lakh), Vipraj Nigam (Rs 50 lakh), Dushmantha Chameera (Rs 75 lakh), Donovan Ferreira (Rs 75 lakh), Ajay Mandal (Rs 30 lakh), Manvanth Kumar L (Rs 30 lakh), Tripurana Vijay (Rs 30 lakh), Madhav Tiwari (Rs 40 lakh)

The last clash between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals came in 2024 and it was a high-scoring thriller. Powered by fiery knocks from Abishek Porel (65) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (50), DC piled up 221/8, despite a solid effort from RR’s R Ashwin, who picked up 3 wickets. In response, Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson led the charge with a blistering 89 off just 46 balls but the chase fell short. Delhi’s bowling trio Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed claimed two wickets apiece to seal a 20-run win and leave RR ruing missed chances.

It’s been a rough ride for Rajasthan Royals this season. With just two wins, one against Chennai Super Kings and another over Punjab Kings, they have largely struggled to find consistency. Sitting at 8th place on the points table with only 4 points from 6 games, RR will need more than just flashes of brilliance to turn their campaign around. Time is ticking, and the pressure is mounting.

In the head-to-head meeting of Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals, RR holds an edge over DC. In their games together, Royals won 15 matches whereas Delhi won 14.

Delhi Capitals Predicted XI: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Karun Nair, Abishek Porel, KL Rahul (WK), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel (C), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma

Impact Sub: Mukesh Kumar

Rajasthan Royals Predicted XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (C, WK), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande

Impact Sub: Kumar Kartikeya

Delhi has turned into a batter’s paradise this season, with run-fests becoming the new normal. In the last seven matches at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, teams batting first have consistently racked up totals over 200 and walked away with victories each time. The pitch for the recent DC-MI clash was no different, offering another high-scoring spectacle where Delhi came close to chasing down 206.

However, beneath all the fireworks, there’s a twist — literally. The surface is starting to offer some turn, which could bring spinners like Wanindu Hasaranga, Kuldeep Yadav, Maheesh Theekshana and young Nigam into play, especially in the middle overs.

As for the weather, expect hot days with temperatures in the mid to high 30s Celsius, but the evenings should bring some welcome relief for players and fans alike.

After three back-to-back thrillers, the tournament has hit top gear. First came Mumbai’s last-over miracle against Delhi, followed by an MS Dhoni vintage innings that reignited CSK’s campaign. And just when you thought you’d seen it all, Punjab pulled off the unthinkable—defending the lowest total in IPL history.

Now, all eyes turn to Match 32 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, where the Delhi Capitals get ready to lock horns with the Rajasthan Royals. With momentum surging and stakes rising, this one promises fireworks. Stay tuned as this IPL season is just getting started!