NEW DELHI: KL Rahul did much of the heavy-lifting for Delhi Capitals as they batted first against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday evening. During his 60-ball century, and eventual 112* from 65 balls, he ticked plenty of boxes in an effortless knock which took DC to 199 runs, their biggest total at this venue in IPL 2025.While playing 65 balls (the most by a batter this IPL season), he pocketed numerous milestones along the way as well: fastest Indian to 8000 T20 runs, fourth on the list of most centurions in IPL history, joint-third in the list of most centuries by Indians in T20s.His innings was stupendously paced as well. In his first 20 balls, he scored 25 runs. In the next 20 balls each he scored 38 and 39 runs, respectively. The last five balls fetched 10 runs. As far as pacing an innings in a T20 is concerned, this was template stuff. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!And this was the plan all along as DC moved KL Rahul to top of the order. Having tried multiple combinations with none of them proving fruitful, the franchise rolled the dice again. And again, it didn’t work out. Faf du Plessis fell for 5 after a laboured start, producing an opening stand of just 16 runs.But it allowed KL Rahul more time to get settled before going into the attacking mode, which saw 14 fours and four sixes. Except, it wasn’t enough — by a long margin. Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill showed what DC have been missing all this season — a set pair to open the innings. The pairing collected their seventh 50-plus stand for the first wicket in IPL 2025. And when they crossed the 100-run mark without much of a fuss, it was their seventh in IPL history.As the score ticked to 158 runs, the records just became harsh on DC, as it was the highest opening stand against them.Not long after, Sudharsan, fittingly, got the job done with a six. The manner of the result was also duly appropriate. Half-tracker outside off by Vipraj Nigam, Sudharsan went on the back foot and pulled well over long-on. Six and Gujarat Titans had earned themselves a 10-wicket win and a place in the playoffs. Well, themselves and Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings as well.The maximum to close the match out was the 11th six of the GT innings, which coupled with the 15 fours, meant 126 of the 205 runs that GT scored came in boundaries or 61.46%. Sudharsan’s 108 from 61 balls and Gill’s 93 from 53 balls were laden with boundaries, yet there was little risk involved. Where Gill controlled 82% of his shots, Sudharsan was on 85% on that metric.
“We’ve batted and played really well throughout, going into the playoffs is a reward for how well we’ve done. Openers play low-risk cricket, still they have the ability to hit down the ground and find boundaries. The fours they hit during the game, especially. They know their game, they put a lot of work in strengthening their basics which shows,” said GT assistant coach Parthiv Patel after the win.“Opening pair is about chemistry and knowing each other’s games wel,l which they do,” he added.On the eve of the match, Parthiv had stressed on looking at the glass-half-full with their batting, suggesting he was focused on the top order doing the job for them. And on Sunday, that glass just got a bit fuller.
