Watch: KL Rahul Ignores Sanjiv Goenka In Awkward Handshake

More than the encounter between the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2025 clash at the Ekhana Stadium, the battle was between KL Rahul and his old franchise. He missed the first round of the battle between the two sides due to the birth of his first child.

Rahul returned to the ground, where he earned success with the bat and took the franchise to successive playoffs in the first couple of editions of the competition.

Watch: KL Rahul walks away from Sanjiv Goenka to reject interaction

The breakage point of KL Rahul and his former franchise’s owner was the game between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium last year.

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Rahul’s army was quite slow in posting a decent score on the board in the first wicket, as the home side chased down the target with 10 wickets in hand and nearly 10 overs to spare.

Coming into his new side, Delhi Capitals, KL Rahul looked more balanced and started to shoulder the responsibility a lot more. The fans and experts were excited to see how he would perform against his old side after an unforgettable run in the IPL 2024.

Coming at number three, the right-handed batter soaked up the pressure at the start, keeping the scorecard moving in the 160-run chase. He finished with an unbeaten knock of 57 runs in 42 balls at a strike rate of 135.71, thanks to three boundaries and three sixes.

As Delhi claimed their eight-wicket victory, KL Rahul walked out to Sanjiv Goenka, who tried to shake hands with the bat to congratulate him. The latter also aimed to start a conversation, but the Indian batter had hardly any interest, and he simply walked away from the owner.

Rahul walking away from goenka 🤣🤣😂#klrahul #goenka #ipl #LSGvsDC pic.twitter.com/Wke8kOyoHf

— SarpanchSaab (@kitts1727) April 22, 2025

KL Rahul’s classical knock carries Delhi Capitals home

Delhi made a very good start in the small run chase. After the dismissal of Karun Nair, the visiting management sent KL Rahul at number three. He got his first boundary of the evening through the backward square leg region before tucking the leg-sided delivery into the fine leg for the same result.

With 19 runs in 20 deliveries, the pressure was slightly building on the Bengaluru-born. He slog-swept Ravi Bishnoi over the mid-wicket region for a six before clubbing Aiden Markram for another over the boundary. Axar Patel, with a fiery knock, released the pressure off his shoulder as the ex-LSG captain celebrated his half-century in 40 balls.

KL Rahul is now the fastest to reach 5000 IPL runs in 130 innings. He also holds the record for the highest average (46.35) among batters with 5000+ IPL runs and the highest average in IPL run-chases, with the category minimum of 1000 runs.

With a fine six, KL Rahul carried Delhi to their sixth win in the first eight encounters of the game. This happened after four years when they finished in the qualifiers.

Mukhesh Kumar breaks LSG’s batting momentum

Lucknow made a fantastic opening start in the event with an 87-run partnership in 10 overs before they lost wickets in the middle overs. David Miller didn’t get his timing right with 14 runs in 15 balls, but Ayush Badoni creamed 36 runs in 21 balls.

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At a point, when the home side was looking to get over 180, Mukesh Kumar, with two wickets in the same over, broke their momentum with overall figures of 4/33 in four overs, to restrict them to 159/6 in the allotted 20 overs.