Tejasvi Dahiya, Anmol Sharma drive South Delhi Superstarz to DPL 2025 playoffs

South Delhi Superstarz qualified for the Delhi Premier League (DPL) 2025 after a sparring contest between stand-in captain Tejasvi Dahiya and Purani Dilli-6’s Dev Lakra in a seven-over joust ended on the penultimate ball.

The eight-wicket win helped them seal the final available spot and join Central Delhi Kings, East Delhi Riders and West Delhi Lions in the playoffs. It also dashed hopes of North Delhi Strikers and New Delhi Tigers who were among those fighting for a place in the last four stage.

South Delhi, missing their regular captain Ayush Badoni who is doing duty at Duleep Trophy, began well with left-armer Aman Bharti getting rid of Vansh Bedi and Samarth Seth off successive balls in the first over.

That over apart, which cost them four runs, it was a hard toil for Dahiya’s team who could not keep a lid on the scoring as Dev Lakra (85 off 23 balls; 8x4s, 8x6s) and Yug Gupta (38 off 14 balls; 4x4s, 3x6s) added 117 for the third wicket. Lakra had failed to score big in the tournament and he reserved his best for the last, hammering sixes mostly in the V while getting a couple of them behind wicket.

The target of 134 in seven overs – Purani Dilli-6 made 133/3 in seven overs – meant South Delhi had to score at 19 an over which was really difficult.

But they started off well, plundering 25 in the first over bowled by Pardeep Parashar. The next over by Rajneesh Dadar fetched them 23 runs and the next one by Udhav Mohan got them 18. Even before they were at half-way stage, they had taken 66 runs, almost half the runs. Twenty-five runs in the fourth over bowled by Lakra brought the equation to manageable limit and they never looked back.

While it was largely a one-man show for Purani Dilli-6, South Delhi relied on both the openers – Dahiya (69 off 21 balls; 3x4s, 9x6s) and Anmol Sharma (56 not out off 17 balls; 1x4, 8x6s) – to reach the target. They added 122 in 5.5 overs with Dahiya being the dominant partner initially smashing sixes mostly over mid-wicket.

Dev Lakra had reached his fifty off 16 balls (6x4s, 4x6s) for the fastest half-century in DPL 2025 but Tejasvi Dahiya (2x4s, 7x6s)  broke the record, hitting his half-century in 12 balls. Anmol Sharma too got it in 16 balls (1x4, 7x6s).

Although the size of the boundary, which was reduced to 63 metres from the usual 70 metres due to wet outfield, did help in the glut of boundaries, it was also poor bowling as the bowlers struggled to bowl full which was more rewarding and kept hitting length. This indiscipline was particularly disappointing from Purani Dilli-6 bowlers who have a very good and able bowling line-up which  flopped on a rare day when their batting clicked.

Brief Scores

Purani Dilli-6 133/3 in 7 overs (Dev Lakra 85* off 23, Yug Gupta 38; Aman Bharti 2/17) lost to South Delhi Superstarz 134/2 in 6.5 overs (Tejasvi 69, Anmol Sharma 56*)

Tags : Tejasvi Dahiya, Dev Lakra, Anmol Sharma, DPL 2025, Delhi, Vansh Bedi