Slam-bang cricket in West Delhi-South Delhi tie before rain plays spoilsport

South Delhi Superstarz’s match with West Delhi Lions in a Delhi Premier League (DPL) 2025 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Monday was reduced to a 7-over competition due to a delayed start as the weather did not show much respite.

The mid-table battle finally got underway after a long wait with the winner moving a step closer to the play-offs. A curtailed match such as this gives added license to the batsmen as they have very little time to settle and need to score big from the onset.

The toss was won by South Delhi Superstarz and they elected to bowl. The West Delhi Lions started off on expected lines and raced past 50 in the fourth over. They ended their allotted seven overs scoring 98 and losing seven wickets, the latter is of not much importance since the batsmen are looking to slam-bang from the very start.

Nitish Rana finally came good and showed why he is such an important figure in this team. He scored at a rate of above 300 on his way to 25 which is of quite significance in the given situation. Tishant Dabla gave the much-needed momentum at the finish, scoring 16 off just four balls and helped them post a very competitive score.

Digvesh Rathi, Sumit Beniwal and Ayush Badoni took two wickets each for Superstarz. While Rathi was economical and made it hard for the batsmen to get under, Badoni and Sumit Beniwal were quite expensive.

In response, West Delhi were on course to what could have been an epic finish and raced to 32 in the second over with Anmol Sharma starting off with three sixes in his 18 off six balls before losing his timber to Shubham Dubey.

Ayush Badoni started off brightly with a sublime 14 but was caught off Mayank Gusain. West Delhi were sitting pretty well in their chase, having scored 48 after 3.4 overs before rain decided to play spoilsport again and what looked like a close encounter which would go down to the last stages had to be called off after keeping the groundsmen on their toes all day long. The match finally ended with no result and kept the table open with both sides getting a point each. The result makes their next fixtures vital for their chances to qualify.

Brief scores

West Delhi Lions 98/7 in seven overs (Nitish Rana 25, Tishant Dabla 16, Digvesh Rathi  2/17, Ayush Badoni 1/16) vs South Delhi Superstarz 48/2 in 3.4 overs (Anmol Sharma 18, Ayush Badoni 14, Mayank Gusain 1/8, Shubham Dubey 1/19)

Tags : Ayush Badoni, Nitish Rana, Delhi Premier League, Digvesh Rathi, Mayank Gusain