AI Simulation, EDR vs WDL । Nitish Rana guides West Delhi Lions to beat East Delhi Riders by five wickets in DPL 2025 game

ByUmesh Sharma,SportsCafe Editor

08/04/2025

As per Artificial Intelligence, West Delhi Lions will beat the defending champions, East Delhi Riders, by five wickets to register their first win in the ongoing Delhi Premier League 2025. Skipper Nitish Rana will smash a match-winning half-century (58) to help his side chase the target comfortably.

Pitch and Weather

The surface at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi was dry and hard with a slight tinge of grass. It was quite hard for batters to execute the stroke play at this track.

The weather in Delhi was hot and dry, with the temperature around 37 degrees Celsius. There was no rain interruption throughout the entire game.

Toss

East Delhi Riders won the toss and decided to bat first.

Lineups

EDR XI: Arpit Rana, Sujal Singh, Hardik Sharma, Anuj Rawat (C & WK), Mayank Rawat, Rohan Rathi, Kavya Gupta, Rounak Waghela, Navdeep Saini, Akhil Chaudhary, Ajay Ahlawat, Ashish Meena.

WDL XI: Manan Bhardwaj, Ankit Kumar, Nitish Rana (C), Vikas Rana, Vedant Sehwag, Ayush Doesja, Hrithik Shokeen, Vishal Abhua (WK), Ishant Sharma, Shantanu Yadav, Trishant Dabla.

Match Report

After defeating the South Delhi Superstarz by five wickets in the tournament opener, the reigning champions, the East Delhi Riders, faced the West Delhi Lions in their second match of their DPL 2025 campaign. EDR skipper Anuj Rawat won the toss and decided to bat first. However, Rawat’s decision seemed to backfire when the veteran WDL pacer Ishant Sharma dismissed Sujal Singh just in the third over of the innings. But it was the pair of Arpit Rana and Hardik Rana that stabilised the EDR innings, with a 33-run partnership for the second wicket. Shantanu Yadav broke this partnership by getting Arpit Rana (21) caught by wicketkeeper Vishal Abhua. Following the departure of both the openers, Hardik Sharma took charge, alongside Anuj Rawat, to add 37 runs for the third wicket. Hardik played an important knock of 33 runs off 25 balls, leaving the WDL bowlers struggling. After losing Hardik to Hrithik Shokeen’s bowling, Rawat started charging aggressively against the WDL bowling attack before he was dismissed in the 19th over. Rawat scored an all-important half-century (56 off 39 balls) to keep the scoring rate balanced amidst a fall of wickets at regular intervals. His half-century played a vital role in taking EDR’s score to 164/7 in the allotted 20 overs. In WDL’s bowling lineup, the veteran pacer Ishant Sharma and off-spinner Trishant Dabla were the two crucial performers who kept denting EDR’s scoring rate and stopped them from posting a big total. The duo scalped a total of 4 wickets, alongside pivotal support from Shantanu Yadav and Hrithik Shokeen.

Navdeep Saini and Ajay Ahlawat gave the first two blows to the Lions as they shared the wickets of the openers, Manan Bhardwaj (24) and Ankit Kumar (13), when WDL had scored 41 runs in 4.1 overs. Skipper Nitish Rana came to bat at number three and started batting with a steady approach to make a crucial 40-run partnership for the third wicket with Vikas Rana, who couldn’t contribute enough with his performance, scoring only seven runs off nine balls. Nitish was joined by Vedant Sehwag for a decisive partnership of 53 runs for the fourth wicket. By the time Nitish was dismissed, he had done his job for the Lions, playing a well-fought knock, scoring 58 runs off 40 balls. His contribution was followed by Vedant Sehwag’s unbeaten and quick cameo of 36 runs off just 22 balls. Sehwag smashed two fours and three sixes, getting support from Ayush Doseja (14*) to chase the target for his side in 18.4 overs, scoring 165/5 with eight balls to spare. With this win, the Lions have started their campaign in the ongoing DPL 2025 on a winning note.

Player of the Match

West Delhi Lions’ leader Nitish Rana won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his match-winning knock (58) and his sharp captaincy to lead his side in this five-wicket win.