Punjab Kings 265 for 4 (Prabhsimran 76, Iyer 71*, Arya 43, Kuldeep 2-46) beat Delhi Capitals 264 for 2 (Rahul 152*, Rana, 91, Arshdeep 1-49) by six wickets
Punjab Kings (PBKS) overpowered Delhi Capitals (DC) and pulled off the highest successful T20 chase in an IPL 2026 bash where 265 met 264 (with seven balls left). The opening blitz from Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh - they hit 116 together in the powerplay - and captain Shreyas Iyer's chancy yet composed 71 not out off 36 balls upstaged KL Rahul's unbeaten 152 off 67 balls on a flat Delhi pitch.
Before the start of the chase, ESPNcricinfo's Forecaster had PBKS' win probability pegged at 14.83%. It zoomed up to 65.35% after Arya and Prabhsimran went on a ruthless boundary-hitting spree in the powerplay. The openers fell in successive overs to spin, but Iyer then took charge of the chase and increased that count to 100%.
PBKS' many misses
Rahul's knock could have been cut short on 12 had Shashank Singh not dropped a regulation catch at deep square-leg. Shashank lost his shape and ended up knocking the ball away to the boundary. After dropping at least three chances in their previous game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Shashank spilled another chance on Saturday, leaving coach Ricky Ponting upset in the dugout.
Shashank fumbled again in the fifth over of the powerplay, running to his right from sweeper cover and letting the ball roll into the boundary. By the time the powerplay ended, DC ran away to 68 for 1, their highest powerplay score this season.
Rahul was responsible for 35 of those from 16 balls, having repeatedly hit the ball over the top. Nitish Rana was also quick off the blocks, moving to 22 off 13 balls. Prabhsimran and Arya later made those powerplay scores look pedestrian.
The Rahul-Rana show
In the past, Rahul has often slowed down after the powerplay, but on Saturday, he didn't allow the momentum to let up. He step-hit Yuzvendra Chahal for six over long-on in the seventh over and proceeded to step out of his crease and pick the legspinner away for back-to-back fours in the 11th over. By then, Rahul had already raised his half-century off 26 balls. He got another life on 51 when he popped a return catch, but Vijaykumar Vyshak couldn't hold onto it.
Rahul went on to bring up his fastest IPL century, off 47 balls. He reached the landmark with a drilled drive down the ground off Marco Jansen in the 15th over. He celebrated by crossing his arms in the form of an 'X' and had more than 28,000 fans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium celebrating with him.
Deep Dasgupta says Rahul's "spatial awareness was unbelievable" during his knock of 152*
At the other end, Rana looked set to bring up a hundred of his own until Xavier Bartlett had him caught by Iyer at mid-off for 91 off 44 balls to snap a 220-run stand - the highest for DC. In the 11 balls prior to his dismissal, Rana had cracked 44 off the Australia quick, including a sequence of 6, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6 in the 12th over that cost PBKS 28 runs.
Rana wasn't as fluent against Chahal, but Rahul made up for it at the other end. Rahul went from 100 to 150 in just 19 balls. He got there with a superbly controlled uppercut off a lifter from Arshdeep Singh on the penultimate ball of the innings.
Rahul became the first Indian to score a 150 in the IPL and the third overall behind only Chris Gayle's 175* in 2013 and Brendon McCullum's 158* in 2008. He batted through 20 overs and vaulted DC to their highest total. At the halfway break, Rahul was so knackered that he was panting for breath through his interview on a 41-degree day in Delhi.
Prabharya's opening salvo
Prabhsimran and Delhi boy Arya then left the crowd breathless in the chase with their unfettered assault in the powerplay. It began with Arya pumping a fairly blameless length delivery on off from Auqib Nabi over midwicket for six and ended with a four by Prabhsimran, which propelled PBKS to 116 in six overs. It was the second-highest powerplay score in the history of the IPL, falling nine short of levelling the record set by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) against DC at this very venue in 2024.
PBKS had passed fifty in the third over when Arya crunched Axar Patel for six and then Prabhsimran muscled them past hundred in the final over of the powerplay with an over full of fours against seamer Mukesh Kumar.
Deep Dasgupta and Carlos Brathwaite on the PBKS skipper's knock
Iyer aces the chase
DC clawed back into the contest when their spinners Axar and Kuldeep Yadav dismissed PBKS' openers in the seventh and eighth overs. Kuldeep struck again in the tenth over when he stormed through Cooper Connolly with a zippy wrong'un, leaving PBKS at 145 for 3 in the tenth over. Iyer then managed the chase so well that PBKS ended up winning with more than an over to spare.
Iyer got cracking when he pumped legspinner Vipraj Nigam into the sightscreen in the 11th over. Nigam had come into the DC side as a concussion sub for Lungi Ngidi, who was taken to the hospital in an ambulance after hurting his head while attempting a catch off Arya at mid-off.
Nigam created a chance to dismiss Iyer on 28, but Karun Nair, who came in as a fielding sub, dropped a sitter at long-off in the 15th over. Two balls later, Nair dropped Iyer once again, this time at long-on off Kuldeep.
Iyer went 4, 6, 6 off the next three legal balls to tilt the game PBKS' way. The second six over long-on brought him a half-century off 26 balls. He also lined up T Natarajan for a brace of sixes to rush PBKS home along with Shashank.
