A wonderful exhibition of batting gifts by KL Rahul (75) and Pathum Nissanka (62) overshadowed Riyan Parag’s redemptive 90, powering Delhi Capitals to a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in their IPL match in Jaipur on Friday. Parag washed away a lot of criticism with a 50-ball blitz to lead the Royals to a competitive 225 for six. However, Delhi Capitals replied with excellent knocks by Rahul and Nissanka to reach 226 for three. Parag stayed off the field for a good part of the second innings with a hamstring niggle. Yashasvi Jaiswal did the captain’s duty for the Royals.
The Capitals made the best possible start to the chase as Rahul and Nissanka added 102 runs for the opening wicket in just 9.3 overs.
Rahul was a bit slow to begin with, but once he found his groove, the 34-year-old was sublime to watch.
He played shots all around the ground — a cover drive off Nandre Burger, a pull off Jofra Archer and two imperious back-to-back sixes in the ‘V’ off Ravi Bishnoi.
Nissanka displayed his prowess in the pull shot, which yielded all his three maximums on the night — one off Archer and two off Burger.
Rahul brought up his fifty in 27 balls, four balls more than Nissanka, but the latter fell to Jadeja after failing to connect a reverse sweep.
The Bengaluru batter added a further 61 runs with Nitish Rana (33) as the Capitals maintained their momentum.
Both Rana and Rahul, who lofted Archer straight to Donnovan Ferreira at long on, fell in the space of six balls and the Capitals needed 49 runs from that point off 26 balls.
But Ashutosh Sharma and Tristan Stubbs managed that job very well, as DC pulled off their biggest chase in the IPL.
DC now moved up to sixth with eight points while the Royals stayed at fourth with 12 points.
Earlier, Parag vaporised multiple concerns surrounding him with a quality 90 as Rajasthan Royals posted a competitive 225 for six.
The Royals skipper was struggling for runs so far this season and if his on-field troubles were not enough, Parag copped a 25 per cent fine handed by BCCI after getting caught on camera vaping inside the dugout.
So, he had a lot to prove, and the right-hander did it in some style, notching up his first score above fifty in IPL 2026.
In fact, Parag was under serious pressure after the early departure of openers Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who was yorked by Kyle Jamieson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who offered a return catch to Mitchell Starc (3/40), who made his maiden appearance in this IPL.
After all, 12 for two is not exactly the position an out of form batter wants to be in, and the nerves were evident in his loose wafts against Starc.
But the confidence returned to him once he took apart Jamieson in the sixth over through a sequence of 6, 4, 6 — a pull over mid-wicket and a slice over slips.
Once self-belief returned, it reflected in Parag’s batting too, those fast hands and audacity resurfaced.
Those elements were on ample display in a tennis-like forehand six over covers off left-arm pacer T Natarajan.
Parag brought up his fifty in 32 balls and added 102 runs for the third wicket with a composed Dhruv Jurel (42).
The dismissal of Jurel barely deterred Parag as he, in the company of middle-order batters like Ravindra Jadeja (20), marched on.
There was a brief period of lull after Jurel’s dismissal but Parag broke the lean phase with a hat-trick of boundaries off Jamieson.
Parag and Jadeja milked 53 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter succumbed to Starc.
The Australian quick also snapped Parag’s stay, his attempt to loft him over covers ended in the hands of Axar Patel.
RR still needed the cushion of a few more runs and Donovan Ferreira (47, 14 balls) gave them that with a little Tsunami.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
IPL 2026 News | Shami’s Sensation Leads Lucknow to First Win of Season
Topics mentioned in this article
