Delhi Strike Late Blow! What’s Next for Punjab in the Playoff Drama?

Delhi Capitals ended their Indian Premier League season with an emphatic win over Punjab Kings at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur. In a high-scoring clash, the Capitals chased down a daunting target of 207 with three balls to spare, thanks to a game-changing knock by 21-year-old Sameer Rizvi.This is the second time that Delhi Capitals have chased down the target of 200 plus. With this result, Punjab's hopes of finishing in the top two are hanging by a thread, as they now must beat Mumbai Indians in their final league game. Gujarat Titans currently lead the table with 18 points, followed by PBKS and RCB with 17 each, and Mumbai sitting at 16. So the race for top 2 position is wide open

Toss and Playing XIs
Delhi Capitals’ stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bowl first. Karun Nair returned to the XI for Delhi, while Punjab Kings bolstered their lineup with Josh Inglis and Marcus Stoinis.

Punjab Kings XI: Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Josh Inglis (wk), Shreyas Iyer (C), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh
Impact Subs: Pravin Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Xavier Bartlett, Kyle Jamieson

Delhi Capitals XI: Faf du Plessis (C), Sediqullah Atal, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs (wk), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mustafizur Rahman, Mukesh Kumar
Impact Subs: KL Rahul, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurna Vijay, Ajay Mandal, Darshan Nalkande

Punjab Set a Target with a Stoinis Surge
Punjab Kings had a shaky start as Priyansh Arya fell early to Mustafizur Rahman. However, Josh Inglis injected momentum with a quickfire 32 off 12 balls. Skipper Shreyas Iyer led from the front with a steady 53 off 34 deliveries. The middle order chipped in modestly, but Marcus Stoinis brought fireworks at the death, smashing an unbeaten 44 off just 17 balls with 4 sixes and 3 fours. Punjab finished with a strong total of 207/7.
Mustafizur Rahman stood out with the ball, claiming 3 wickets. Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam picked up 2 each, while Mukesh Kumar got one but proved expensive leaking 49 runs in his 4 overs.

Rizvi’s Blitz Seals the Chase for Delhi
Delhi’s chase got off to a solid start, with KL Rahul  (35) who was brough in as an impact sub and Du Plessis (23) adding 55 runs for the opening stand. Karun Nair's addition proved fruitful for the teamas he played a fluent knock of 44 from 27 balls, keeping the chase on track. But it was Sameer Rizvi who stole the show. The 21-year-old delivered a breathtaking 58 off just 25 balls, smashing 3 boundaries and 5 sixes to turn the game in Delhi’s favor. Tristan Stubbs finished the game with a composed 18 off 14 balls.

Punjab’s bowling attack struggled to contain the flow of runs. Besides Arshdeep Singh every bowler leaked runs at an economy rate more than 10, Harpreet Brar, Marco Jansen, and Pravin Dubey all leaked runs despite taking wickets Brar picked 2 while Jansen and Dubey picked one each .

Delhi chased down the target in 19.3 overs, winning the match by 6 wickets and 3 balls to spare.

Player of the Match
Sameer Rizvi was rightfully awarded Player of the Match for his explosive 58 off 25 balls, proving to be the ultimate difference in a high-pressure match.

With this victory, Delhi Capitals signed off their IPL 2025 campaign on a positive note, denting Punjab Kings' chances of a top-two finish.