Yesterday IPL Match Result: KL Rahul’s staggering 152* in vain as Punjab Kings beat Delhi Capitals by 6 wickets

NEW DELHI: There are days in IPL history that live forever. Days when the game exceeds itself, goes somewhere it has never been before, and leaves you wondering whether you actually witnessed what you think you did. Saturday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium was unquestionably one of those days.

After KL Rahul’s staggering 152 not out had already redrawn the boundaries of what seemed possible in a scorching Delhi afternoon, Punjab Kings walked out to chase 265. Not 200. Not 220. Two hundred and sixty five. And they got there with seven balls to spare and six wickets remaining. Let that settle.

Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya made sure the chase never felt like a tall order. From the very first ball, this was not a team operating under the weight of an impossible target. This was a team that had simply decided the target was irrelevant. Prabhsimran (76 off 23b; 9x4, 5x6), in particular, was something otherworldly. He played an innings that was viscerally violent.

Priyansh Arya (43 off 17b; 2x4, 5x6), at the other end, was no passenger. Together they crashed 116 runs in the Powerplay, nine fours and ten sixes between them, reducing what should have been a fortress total into something that felt negotiable. It was the second highest Powerplay score ever in the IPL.

Then came the wobble. Axar Patel removed Arya, Kuldeep Yadav trapped Prabhsimran lbw, and Cooper Connolly fell too, bowled by a Kuldeep googly. In the space of 16 balls, Punjab had gone from 126 for none to 145 for 3, and suddenly Delhi sensed something. A game that had felt over began to breathe again.

Enter Shreyas Iyer. Calm. Precise. Completely unruffled.

Iyer’s unbeaten 71 off 36 balls (3x4, 7x6) was not the flashiest innings of the day. But it was, arguably, the most important. With Shashank Singh providing sensible company at the other end with 19 not out off 10 balls, Iyer guided Punjab home by six wickets as if the whole exercise was a mere formality.

With this win, Punjab Kings now hold the record for the highest successful run chase across all men’s T20 cricket, not just the IPL.

Earlier, KL Rahul (152* off 67b; 16x4, 9x6) scripted an innings that felt less like a return to form and more like a reclamation of identity. Rahul didn’t just score a breathtaking ton for Delhi Capitals — he dismantled, dictated and, at times, dazzled with a freedom that has often eluded him in the shortest format.

For the longest time, Rahul’s T20 career has resembled a man dragging a heavy suitcase of strike-rate anxieties. But that was not the case on Saturday, as Rahul decided to abandon the suitcase.