Delhi Capitals defeated (208/4) Lucknow Super Giants (189/9) in their last match of the season by 19 runs. Despite the win, the Rishabh Pant led them couldn’t make it to the playoffs. Delhi thoroughly dominated the proceedings, with Abhishek Porel (58) and Tristan Stubbs (57) taking the score to 208 runs before Ishant Sharma (3/34) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/33) combined to restrict Lucknow to just 189 runs.
KL Rahul won the toss and asked Rishabh Pant’s side to bat first in a must-win game. While Lucknow got an early breakthrough with the wicket of Jake Fraser-McGurk (0/2), Abhishek Porel and Shai Hope (38/27) played some fantastic shots to score 73 runs in 6 overs. Lucknow made a comeback by introducing spinners after that, but Tristan Stubbs’ special in the death overs helped Delhi reach 208 runs.
Lucknow got off to a terrible start in the chase as they lost four wickets inside the powerplay. Despite a good showing by Nicolas Pooran (61/27) in the middle overs and Arshad Khan (58/33) in the late innings, it was way too much for two batters to cope with the giant score. 
With this match, the team’s journey has ended unofficially this season, though Lucknow has a game to play. But that won’t matter much as they are already out of the playoff race.
DC vs LSG turned out to be a high-scoring encounter, and it had many moments that defined the match’s result.
Abhishek Porel’s carnage in powerplay
When Delhi Capitals lost their Jake Fraser-McGurk in the first over, there were concerns that the young batting order would fall apart, but Porel played his own game without hesitation. After first two conscious overs, the West Bengal batsman attacked Arshad Khan (1/45). In third over of powerplay, Porel smashed him for three fours and a six to kickstart Delhi’s onslaught. Porel’s surge contributed heavily to Delhi’s 73-run total.
Shift in gears by Stubbs
The Delhi innings began with an exciting start, but they lost the plot in the middle overs, putting a damper on achieving the par total. In the 16th over, Tristan Stubbs led the charge, shifting Delhi’s innings into sixth gear. In the 16th over, he smashed Arshad Khan for 18 runs, bringing Delhi’s score to 154 runs.
Stubbs doing Stubbs things against Naveen
Tristan Stubbs has single handedly fought a battle for Delhi in the death overs this season and this game was no different. The South African batter scored a blistering half-century against Lucknow to take Delhi’s score past 200. In the 19th over, he took Naveen-ul-Haq (2/51) under his radar and nailed 21 runs. He gave Naveen some serious beating and smashed him out of the park twice.
Ishant Sharma’s triple boost
It was Ishant Sharma who helped Lucknow Super Giants start with a disastrous powerplay. Taking the wicket of KL Rahul in his first over, Quinton de Kock (12/8) in his second over and Deepak Hooda (0/2) in his third over, the experienced lanky fast bowler broke Lucknow’s backbone. Ishant Sharma’s experienced bowling in powerplay was mainly responsible for Lucknow not looking in the game throughout the chase.
Mukesh Kumar’s final nail in the coffin
Only when Pooran was on the crease did Lucknow look into the game. Pooran was in lethal form, smashing all Delhi bowlers all over the place. Even though he didn’t have support from the other end, Pooran kept everyone engaged. In the 11th over, however, Mukesh Kumar (1/33) ruined his plans with his wicket as he looked to take the game deep. Kumar bowled an outside off ball to which Pooran shoot straight to the cover fielder. Even though Arshad showed some fight in the last overs, Pooran’s wicket made the actual difference.
Delhi Capitals have unofficially finished their season with seven wins and seven losses. They are currently 5th in the position. Looking back, they would be disappointed that they didn’t give a chance to Jack Fraser, who significantly contributed to Delhi’s young lineup. In last six games, they only lost twice and won four games which gave them late hope of qualifying. Lucknow Super Giants are also out of the playoff picture, but they still have a game to play. On Sunday, they will play for pride against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede. The Parimatch odds for that match are 1.83x.
