Ashutosh Sharma pulled a rabbit out of his hat to lead DC to victory in a chase of 210 despite them losing half their batting lineup in the first seven overs.

Ashutosh Sharma showed that his incredible 2024 season was no fluke as he simply picked up in DC colours where he left off in Punjab Kings’ and led his side to a scarcely believable one-wicket win. (PTI)

Axar Patel won his first toss as DC captain and chose to bowl first, and while the first wicket fell early, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran put on a stand so belligerent that LSG ended up crossing 200 despite scoring just 61 runs between the 12th and 19th overs. The pair put up a partnership of 87 runs for the second wicket in just 42 balls. Marsh scored 72 in 36 balls while Pooran made 75 in 30 balls. (PTI)

Kuldeep and the rest of the DC spinners first put a halt to the LSG charge, and the wickets tumbled for the away side. (ANI)

Kuldeep finished with figures of 2/20 while Mitchell Starc marked his DC debut with figures of 3/42. (REUTERS)

Rishabh Pant, meanwhile, fell for a six-ball duck on his LSG debut. (REUTERS)

DC were decimated in the first 10 overs of their chase, and it looked like they had lost the match in that phase itself. They lost three wickets inside the first three overs and were four down at the end of the powerplay. Their fifth wicket fell in the seventh itself. (REUTERS)

The first signs of a revival came with Tristan Stubbs’ 48-run stand with Ashutosh, who was an impact sub. (REUTERS)

8/10

But the rug really got pulled out from under LSG’s feet when Vipraj Nigam blasted 39 runs in just 15 balls and put up a 55-run stand off just 22 balls with Ashutosh. (REUTERS)

9/10

Ashutosh had been rather subdued until the stand with Nigam, in which he contributed 15 runs in seven balls. (PTI)

10/10

He eventually blasted his way to a half-century in 28 balls and brought it down to a situation where DC needed six runs to win off the last over with one wicket remaining. Mohit Sharma was on strike, he managed to take a single off the second ball of the over, and then Ashutosh hit the third from Shahbaz for a six and won the match for DC. Ashutosh remained unbeaten on 66 in 31 balls. (PTI)

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