Delhi Capitals beat LSG by 19 runs

Commanding fifties from Abishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs were complemented by a clinical bowling effort as Delhi Capitals kept their slim IPL play-off hopes alive with a 19- run win over Lucknow Super Giants in their final league fixture on Tuesday.

Porel (58) and Shai Hope (38) shared a 49-ball 92-run stand to give the hosts an aggressive start. Tristan Stubbs (57* ) then hammered three fours and four maximums in his blitzkrieg and added 47 and 50 runs with Rishabh Pant (33) and Axar Patel (14*) to power DC to 208/4.

The bowlers then joined the party to restrict the visitors to 189 for 9, despite a belligerent 27- ball 61 from Nicholas Pooran and a 33-ball 58 not out by Arshad Khan. After the loss in their penultimate league game, LSG are all but out of the play-off race.


DC's win paved the way for Rajasthan Royals qualification to the play-offs. Delhi moved to 14 points, same as Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, and their playoff chances depends on a sequence of other results. Chasing 209, LSG couldn't recover from a nightmarish start as Ishant (3/34), who replaced Porel as impact sub, removed both openers KL Rahul (5), Quinton de Kock (12) and Deepak Hooda (0) in his opening spell.

Marcus Stoinis (5) was then bamboozled by Axar, while Stubbs had Ayush Badoni (6) caught at boundary line as LSG lost half their side for 71 in 8th over. Pooran hit six fours and four sixes to keep the runrate high as LSG reached 100 in 11th over.

But once he was dismissed by Mukesh Kumar with Axar producing a special effort, Arshad Khan took centerstage slamming five sixes and three fours to keep them in the chase. Arshad added 33 runs each with Krunal Pandya (18) and Yudhvir Singh (14) to bring down the equation to 29 off last 12 balls. But Mukesh and Rasikh Salam bowled superbly to limit them in the end

Brief Scores:
Delhi Capitals 208 for 4 in 20 overs (Abhishek Porel 58, Tristan Stubbs 57 not out, Shai Hope 38; Naveen-ul-haq 2/41). LSG 189/9 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 61, Arshad Khan 58 not out; Ishant Sharma 3/34).