Visakhapatnam, March 29 (IANS) After a thrilling one-wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opener, Delhi Capitals will look to maintain their momentum when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.
In their opening match, Delhi Capitals were reeling at 113/6 in the 13th over while chasing a challenging target of 210, but debutant Vipraj Nigam, along with Ashutosh Sharma, stitched a vital 55-run partnership for the seventh wicket to turn the game in their favour.
Reflecting on his match-winning partnership with Ashutosh Sharma, the 20-year-old, who made a quickfire 39 off 15 balls, said, “My job was to make things easy for Ashutosh. I was able to hit some shots, which gave him more time to settle.”
“We both have played a lot of practice games together and have had some drills in the nets as well. Our plan was to try and replicate what we have been doing in the practice sessions. We did that, and fortunately, it worked for us,” he added while addressing the media in a pre-match press conference.
The youngster also expressed his gratitude to the Delhi Capitals management for the opportunity and emphasised the importance of maintaining a balance between batting and bowling as an all-rounder. “I am very thankful to the coaching staff and our captain for showing great trust in me. It was an incredible experience. As an all-rounder, you need to focus on both batting and bowling, and I have been doing the same for my state as well,” he said.
Delhi Capitals’ next opponents, Sunrisers Hyderabad, began their campaign with a win over Rajasthan Royals but suffered a defeat against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their previous outing.
Speaking about the match-up, the young all-rounder Nigam said, “SRH is a very good team with a strong batting lineup. But we have made some plans for them during our team meetings and will try to execute that.”
Delhi Capitals, the JSW and GMR co-owned franchise, have received a boost as star wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul has rejoined the team ahead of their second game after attending the birth of his baby girl. On Rahul’s return, Nigam said, “KL Rahul is back with the team, and having him in the squad brings a lot of balance, given the incredible ability he possesses.”
SRH started their campaign in IPL 2025 with a win over Rajasthan Royals in a run-fest in which they posted the second-highest-ever total in IPL history. They then went down to LSG by five wickets, succumbing to some superb bowling by Shardul Thakur, who claimed 4-34 in their four overs.
In their first away match, SRH will be hoping to get back to winning ways. They will be looking forward to their top-order batters, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, to fire and put Delhi Capitals under pressure.
–IANS
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