Delhi Capitals (DC) have never won the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in 16 seasons. Now, under Rishabh Pant’s leadership, they hope to win it in 2024. Before this year’s IPL started, Delhi’s team looked strong with players like David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, and Prithvi Shaw. They also added Harry Brook and Shai Hope in the auction.
From 2013 to 2018, Delhi had some bad seasons. But in 2019, they changed things up by adding good players to their team, which helped them do better in competitions. In 2022, when all teams were reshuffled in a big auction, Delhi made sure they had a strong batting lineup.
Back in 2008, when the IPL began, Delhi had a great batting lineup with players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, AB de Villiers, and Tilakaratne Dilshan. With these players, they played aggressive cricket in the first two seasons and made it to the knockout stage. Looking back at Delhi’s journey over 16 years in the IPL, let’s talk about some of their best performances.
Here’s the list of Delhi Capitals 5 best IPL knocks:
5. AB de Villier’s unbeaten 105 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2009
AB de Villiers used to play for a team called DC from 2008 to 2010. DC was once known as Delhi Daredevils. In the second season of the IPL, he played for them. He was the first player from Delhi to score 100 runs in a match. This happened when they were playing against Chennai Super Kings at Durban’s Kingsmead. AB scored 105 runs without getting out, helping his team win by nine runs.
When AB came to bat, the team was in trouble because their top two batsmen, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, got out without scoring many runs. But AB played exceptionally well under pressure and scored a century for DC. Thanks to his brilliant batting, Delhi’s total score reached 189 runs.
4. Quinton de Kock’s 108 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2016
DC didn’t do well in the 2016 IPL, but Quinton de Kock played really well with his bat. He scored 445 runs in 13 matches at a fast pace. He was Delhi’s top scorer. In one match against RCB at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, he scored his first century in the IPL.
In that game, DC captain Zaheer Khan chose to bowl after winning the toss. RCB scored 191 runs. Delhi started batting and lost two early wickets, but de Kock stayed calm and made a big partnership of 134 runs.
He hit 18 boundaries (15 fours and three sixes) in his great innings. He got out after scoring 108 runs off 51 balls. Delhi won the match by seven wickets with five balls remaining, and Quinton de Kock was named Player of the Match for his excellent batting.
3. Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 128 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in 2018
Rishabh Pant showed how good he is at batting during the 2018 IPL. He was the second-best scorer in the tournament, hitting 684 runs in 14 games. His strike rate was 173.60. In one match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, he scored his first century in the IPL.
Delhi batted first and scored 187 runs in 20 overs. Pant made an unbeaten 128 runs from just 63 balls. This is still the highest individual score for Delhi Capitals. Despite Pant’s great performance, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the match by nine wickets. But many cricket experts and fans praised Pant’s innings.
2. Rishabh Pant’s 49 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in 2019
In 2019, DC qualified for the playoffs for the first time in seven years. In the Eliminator game, they clashed with Sunrisers in Visakhapatnam. Luck favoured DC skipper Shreyas Iyer as he won the toss and elected to field first. On the big day, SRH batters looked average as they could score only 162 in 20 overs.
Pursuing the target, DC also found themselves in trouble as they lost their half of the batters with 52 runs left to chase in just 32 deliveries. In the challenging situation, Pant displayed courage and played some big strokes to take his team close to the total.
The Southpaw went back to the pavilion after scoring 49 off 21. It was his majestic batting effort that helped the Capitals pull off the total comfortably in the end. The wicketkeeper batter also received the Player of the Match award for his plucky performance.
1. Shikhar Dhawan’s 78 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2020
In 2020, DC played their first IPL final with Shreyas Iyer as their captain. But they didn’t win the trophy. They lost to Mumbai Indians in the final match. However, during the tournament, they played really well and made their fans happy with some great cricket.
In Qualifier 2, DC played against SRH led by David Warner in Abu Dhabi and won by 17 runs. Before the match, Delhi skipper Shreyas won the toss and chose to bat first. Shikhar Dhawan and Marcus Stoinis opened the innings and gave a great start to the team.
Dhawan and Stoinis made 86 runs together in just 50 deliveries. After Stoinis got out, Dhawan continued playing well and made 78 runs off 50 balls. With Dhawan’s great performance, Delhi set a challenging target of 190 runs for SRH.
READ MORE: Top 5 bowling performances for DC
