Faf du Plessis is leading Delhi Capitals in the absence of Axar Patel, who is suffering from an illness. The former South Africa international has a vast experience of captaincy, winning the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) last year with St Lucia Kings and has also led Royal Challengers Bengaluru from 2022-24. Meanwhile, against Punjab Kings in the ongoing IPL 2025, he became only the third overseas cricketer to join an elite IPL list.
He needed only 21 runs to complete 1500 runs as captain in the cash-rich league. Faf made 23 and with that, he became only the third cricketer after David Warner and Adam Gilchrist to have reached the milestone. Overall, Faf became the 12th captain in IPL history to achieve the record.
Delhi, meanwhile, won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab. The Shreyas Iyer-led side, meanwhile, had a terrific outing as the captain led from the front, scoring 53 runs off 34 balls. Later, Marcus Stoinis played a phenomenal knock as he smacked an unbeaten 44 runs off only 16 balls. Courtesy of their incredible show, Punjab posted 206 runs on the board in the first innings.
With that, Punjab also became the franchise with the joint-most number of 200-plus total in a particular season. They are tied with the Gujarat Titans (2025) and Birmingham Bears (Vitality Blast, 2022). Stoinis, on the other hand, holds the record of the highest strike rate in the 19th and 20th over in IPL 2025.
Meanwhile. Delhi defeated Punjab by six wickets in their final league game of the campaign at he Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The match looked out of Delhi's reach at one point but 21-year-old Sameer Rizvi played a phenomenal knock of 58* runs off 25 balls to get the job done. He was also adjudged Player of the Match.