Delhi Capitals register 7-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals despite Parag’s 90

Delhi Capitals chased down 226 to defeat Rajasthan Royals in a high-scoring IPL match. KL Rahul and Pathum Nissanka led the chase, while Riyan Parag’s impressive 90 helped Royals post a strong total that proved insufficient

Jaipur: A wonderful exhibition of batting by KL Rahul (75) and Pathum Nissanka (62) overshadowed Riyan Parag’s redemptive 90, powering Delhi Capitals to a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in their IPL match here on Friday.

Parag brushed aside a lot of criticism with a 50-ball knock to lead the Royals to a competitive 225 for six. However, Delhi Capitals replied with excellent knocks by Rahul and Nissanka to reach 226 for three.

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Parag stayed off the field for a good part of the second innings with a hamstring niggle. Yashasvi Jaiswal performed the captain’s duty for the Royals.

The Capitals made a strong start to the chase as Rahul and Nissanka added 102 runs for the opening wicket in just 9.3 overs.

Rahul was a bit slow to begin with, but once he found his rhythm, the 34-year-old was impressive to watch.

He played shots all around the ground, including a cover drive off Nandre Burger, a pull off Jofra Archer and two back-to-back sixes in the ‘V’ off Ravi Bishnoi.

Nissanka displayed his strength in the pull shot, which gave him all his three sixes on the night, one off Archer and two off Burger.

Rahul brought up his fifty in 27 balls, four balls more than Nissanka, but the latter fell to Jadeja after failing to connect a reverse sweep.

The Bengaluru batter added a further 61 runs with Nitish Rana (33) as the Capitals maintained their momentum.

Both Rana and Rahul, who lofted Archer straight to Donnovan Ferreira at long on, fell in the space of six balls and the Capitals needed 49 runs from that point off 26 balls.

But Ashutosh Sharma and Tristan Stubbs completed the job well, as DC pulled off their biggest chase in the IPL.

DC moved up to sixth with eight points while the Royals stayed at fourth with 12 points.

Earlier, Parag answered many questions with a quality 90 as Rajasthan Royals posted a competitive 225 for six.

The Royals skipper was struggling for runs so far this season and if his on-field troubles were not enough, Parag was fined 25 per cent by BCCI after being caught on camera vaping inside the dugout.

So, he had a lot to prove, and the right-hander did it in style, scoring his first fifty in IPL 2026.

In fact, Parag was under pressure after the early departure of openers Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who was yorked by Kyle Jamieson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who offered a return catch to Mitchell Starc (3/40), who made his first appearance in this IPL.

After all, 12 for two is not the position an out-of-form batter wants to be in, and the nerves were visible in his loose shots against Starc.

But confidence returned once he took apart Jamieson in the sixth over with a sequence of 6, 4, 6.

Once self-belief returned, it reflected in Parag’s batting too.

Those elements were on display in a powerful six over covers off left-arm pacer T Natarajan.

Parag brought up his fifty in 32 balls and added 102 runs for the third wicket with Dhruv Jurel (42).

The dismissal of Jurel did not stop Parag as he, along with middle-order batters like Ravindra Jadeja (20), continued to score.

There was a brief quiet phase after Jurel’s dismissal but Parag broke it with three boundaries off Jamieson.

Parag and Jadeja added 53 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter fell to Starc.

The Australian quick also dismissed Parag, whose attempt to loft him over covers ended in the hands of Axar Patel.

RR still needed a few more runs and Donovan Ferreira (47, 14 balls) provided them with a quick finish.