Follow UsKL Rahul scored 77 off 51 deliveries - his first half-century for Delhi Capitals (DC) - and got his team to a formidable total of 183 against Chennai Super Kings on April 5 (Saturday). Rahul missed DC’s first game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) due to the birth of his first child. He made his return in the next match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) but batted at No.4, slamming 15 off 5.
Rahul, however, was asked to open the innings against CSK, after Faf du Plessis was ruled out because of an injury. He played the second fiddle till Abishek Porel was at the crease, but once the left-hander got out, KL took control. The wicketkeeper-batter went after IPL 2025’s leading wicket-taker Noor Ahmad and collected 20 off 9 deliveries against him.
Noor (10 wickets @ 11.8) has been the best spinner for CSK in the IPL 2025 but has found no support whatsoever from veterans R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Ashwin has claimed only three wickets @ 40 and an economy rate of 9.2, while Jadeja only has two scalps at an economy of 8.7. Even today against DC, the two spinners gave away 40 runs between them in five overs.
If Ashwin and Jadeja have been CSK’s biggest problem in the bowling department, Ruturaj Gaikwad being inconsistent and Shivam Dube misfiring have troubled them in the batting. Gaikwad got out for just 5, failing once again in a 180-plus run chase. Amongst top-six batters while chasing 180+ targets in IPL, Gaikwad has the fourth-worst batting average (14.70).
Meanwhile, Dube got out to legspinner Vipraj Nigam after scoring 18 off 15. The left-handed middle-order batter is averaging just 16 in IPL 2025. Dube once again got out to a legspinner, who have been targeting him by bowling wide deliveries since the last season.
Chennai were 74/5 in 10.4 overs and the chase was more or less over by then, but you would expect the remaining batters to at least go for the target. However, Vijay Shankar and MS Dhoni didn’t. The two put on a painful 84-run stand for the sixth wicket and never looked threatening. Vijay scored 69* off 54 balls, while MSD could only manage 30* off 26 deliveries.