IPL24: Delhi Capitals outplay LSG by 19 runs to keep slim playoffs hopes alive

 

Fine bowling by  Ishant Sharma and glorious batting by Stubbs and Porel ensured the Delhi Capitals keep their slim hopes of playoffs qualifications alive by beating Lucknow Supergiants by 19 runs in a close game . While Delhi's extremely remote hopes revolves around results in other games , LSG after this defeat are virtually out of the reckoning as their NRR is also in high negatives .

 Captain Rahul (KL Rahul) made the first mistake in Delhi on Tuesday.  LSG won the toss and chose to chase.  Despite the loss of the early wicket of Fraser McGruk at the start, Abhishek made his aggressive intentions ckear and Shai Hope's class &  solidily made Delhi score at a blistering pace.  Bengal's Abhishek played a highly explosive innings of 58 runs off 33 balls and hit some powerful strokes including several sixes .  Hope made a polished  38.  The skipper also contributed a quickfire  33.  In the end, Tristan Stubbs reaped the gold on thr base  created by the top order.  He made an electrifying 57 runs off 25 balls with explosive ball striking that entertained the crowd.  Delhi scored a massive 208 runs for 4 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.  

 In the previous match, the fans had more expectations from Rahul, who was in the face of Goenka's anger.  But the Lucknow captain failed to play with the target of big runs.  He was undone by a slower one from Ishant Sharma and got out for 5 runs.  But Rahul is not the lone failure , the entire Lucknow top order has failed miserably . DeKock (12) , Stoinis (5) again flattered to deceive and Badoni (6) went cheaply . Lucknow lost three wickets for just 24 runs.  The fourth wicket fell for 44 runs.  After that, Nicolas Pooran's  devastating 27 ball  61-run battle brought LSG back into the fight. Pooran was in explosive mood from the start as his blistering hits were repeatedly travelling into the stands   But as soon as Pooran was dismissed Lucknow lost all hope.  In the end, Arshad Khan who earlier bowled impressively also played a breathtaking innings sending the ball into the stands repeatedly as the Delhi supporters got extremely worried .  But Arshad (58 in 33 balls )  could not lead the team to victory as he had too much to do .  Lucknow's innings ended at 189 for 9 as the lost by 19 runs. Ishant Sharma for his 3/34 was the player of the match. 

 Lucknow's exit from IPL (IPL 2024) is virtually assured after losing this match.  Even if they win their last match, they will reach 14 points.  KL Rahul's team  is far behind in net run rate.  As a result, their chances of playing in the knock out are virtually zero.  Delhi reached 14 points with the win on this day, but with their net run rate, they are almost certain to leave.  On the other hand, Rajasthan's entry in the knock outs was confirmed with the victory of Delhi on this day.