Delhi Capitals' (DC) KL Rahul and Nitish Rana created havoc against Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their IPL 2026 clash, which is currently being played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Blockbuster partnership between Rana and Rahul
Winning the toss, DC skipper Axar Patel chose to bat first against in-form Punjab Kings, which seemed to be an unusual decision at first but things looked completely changed after the end of first innings.
Losing Pathum Nissanka early in the game, KL Rahul and Nitish Rana bashed the opposition's bowling line up. Nitish Rana bagged 28 runs with four boundaries and two sixes in the 12th over bowled by Xavier Bartlett.
Join elite club of legends
Rahul and Rana stitched a blockbuster stand of 220 runs off just 95 balls, which turned out to be a second-highest partnership in the history of the tournament. In the 2016 edition of IPL, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers's partnership of 229 runs against Gujarat Lions sit at the first place. Notably this is the first instance when DC batters forged a partnership of more than 200 runs.
Record breaking century from KL Rahul
In the Penultimate over, Nitish Rana lost his wicket off Xavier Bartlett's bowling after scoring 91 runs off just 44 deliveries. The former KKR star smashed 11 boundaries and four sixes during his stay at the crease. Meanwhile, KL Rahul broke all the shackles, going unbeaten after scoring record breaking 152 runs off 67 balls, with the help of 16 boundaries and nine sixes.
Big challenge for PBKS
At the end of 20 overs, DC managed to post a mammoth 264/2. At the time of writing, PBKS are standing at 43/0 after 2.3 overs with Priyansh Arya (19 off 8) and Prabhsimran Singh (21 off 7) in the middle. Currently, the game is facing a halt due to Lungi Ngidi's injury while attempting a catch.