Ashutosh is the new STAR - DC wins a humdinger !!

IPL – the supreme entertainer – the game is loved for its unpredictability, the twists and the swings !!  -  what a match today !! – 4^th match of the season at Visakhapatnam – Delhi Capitals won the toss and chose to field against Lucknow Super Giants.   

LSG set a strong 210 as target.  Tristan Stubbs  an occasional spinner, bowled the 13th over. The first one was  a dot...  then Nicholas Pooran hammered him to all parts of the ground -    smashed four sixes in a row and completed with a 4, taking 28 off that over.  When  Mitchell Marsh and Pooran were going the way they were, LSG looked set for 250 or even more. Then came an implosion and LSG found themselves well short. 

Lord Shardul was in the team though he went unsold at the IPL auction, he was supposed to be playing County cricket for Essex while the IPL was on. But, Mohsin Khan got injured and Shardul found a way in.  He did not score a single run but in  his first over, he picked two big DC wickets to hurt them. 

It will take at least a week or two to understand team compositions.  With so many transfers, whoever you thought was playing for the team was actually playing against.  LSG are playing under a new captain, Rishabh Pant, whom they bought for an all-time IPL record price of INR 27 crore and his first match is against his former team. 

LSG started with distinct disadvantage.  Fast bowler Mayank Yadav's recovery from a back injury has been set back by a new toe injury and they were without four of their first-choice Indian fast bowlers - Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan and Akash Deep - all of whom are down with varying degrees of injuries. 

Not many would remember Ashutosh Sharma  who made his name as Punjab Kings' finisher in IPL 2024. He's started IPL 2025 on a similar note. A debutant Vipraj Nigam first made some noise. Nigam playing as a bowler is known for big  hitting. He had in a SMAT game against Andhra smashed 27 off just eight balls to take his side UP over the line. Nigam   brought DC back into the game with a 15-ball 39.  

 

Then Ashutosh believed he could win the match, though the odds were totally against.  Starc fell to Bishnoi's first ball of the 18th over, with the equation reading 39 off 17. Ashutosh then flexed s his muscles hitting  6, 4, 6 against Bishnoi to get the equation down to 22 off 12.  He was on 19 off 19 and he finishes on 66 off 31 to win. 

Six needed of 6 and the last player Mohit Sharma was on strike.  A well flighted spinning delivery, Mohit missed the beauty – Rishab Pant could not collect it at all – they went for DRS which proved that ball was missing off stump.   Then they ran a sharp single, as Badoni missed it on the run.  5 off 4 !  As camera zoomed, Ashutosh was looking King Viv Richards and smacked in a similar fashion straight for a 6 and started celebrating Kevin Pieterson way !!  

Sharma was a part of the Punjab Kings in the 17th edition of the tournament and played a couple of brilliant knocks for them in big chases and under pressure. Cometh, the IPL 2025 mega auction - the Punjab Kings released Ashutosh Sharma and let him go under the hammer. During the auction the Delhi Capitals went hard for him in a bidding war and acuaired his services for a price of ₹3.8 Cr.  

Last year on Apr 4, 2024 - Kings only had two batters among their five substitutes in a bowling first XI. It looked a lopsided selection. But the man they chose as the Impact Sub played a massive role in their victory. Ashutosh Sharma, playing his very first IPL game, and only the 15th T20 of his career, looked at an equation that read 41 off 18 balls square in the eye and took it down with brutal precision. He hit three fours in Azmatullah Omarzai's 18th over. Another six to start the 19th from Mohit. In those 12 balls, the Kings got 34 runs. In those 12 balls, the Kings' chances of victory rose from 9.23% to 94.56%.   

To those following closely Indian Cricket, Ashutosh is a star, famed six hitter.  Railways' middle-order batter Ashutosh Sharma had broken Yuvraj Singh's record of the fastest T20 fifty by an Indian. Ashutosh hammered his fifty off just 11 balls against Arunachal Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at Ranchi.  Yuvraj had held the record for 16 years, having struck a fifty off 12 balls against England in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007  

The way the chase started – Jake Fraser McGurk, Abhishek Porel, Sameer Rizvi gone at 7 runs (1.4 Overs); then 65/5; 113/6 – it appeared a lop sided match !!! but result was different. It is very refreshing to see youngsters like Ashutosh Sharma accomplishing bigger things in style with self-belief and confidence. 

In the end, in a pulsating finish Delhi Capitals knocked off LSG when it appeared that the match was over halfway !!  Well done Vipraj Nigam & Ashutosh Sharma.  

Regards – S Sampathkumar
24.3.2025