Nitish Rana’s heroics led West Delhi Lions to clinch DPL 2025 title

New Delhi: West Delhi Lions defeated Central Delhi by six wickets in the final of the Delhi Premier League (DPL) 2025 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on August 31, Sunday. Nitish Rana led his side with a brilliant knock of 79 runs off 49 balls in the summit clash.

West Delhi won the toss and invited Central Delhi to bat first. The bowlers proved the skipper’s decision right by sending Central Delhi’s half-side back to the pavilion under 10 overs. Rana finished his outstanding spell by giving just 16 runs in four overs, including a wicket.

Yugal Saini and Pranshu Vijayaran built a partnership of 78 runs for the seventh wicket and helped their side to post a decent score in the final. Both batters completed their half-centuries, Yugal scored 65 runs in 48 balls, while Pranshu smashed a quick fifty in just 24 balls.

Central Delhi posted 173 runs in 20 overs. Manan Bharadwaj and Shivank Vashisht picked up two wickets each in the first innings. Central Delhi’s bowlers removed Krish Yadav and Ayush Doseja in the first two overs, but West Delhi’s captain Nitish Rana batted to take his side over the line in just 18 overs.

The experienced Hrithik Shokeen stood tall with his skipper by scoring 42 runs in 27 balls. Simarjeet Singh took two wickets for Central Delhi in a one-sided contest.

In the last edition, West Delhi finished in last position in the points table, but in the 2025 season, Rana’s experience helped them to clinch the title.

Dream run for Nitish Rana

Rana enjoyed a dream run in the DPL 2025 as he concluded the season with three unbeaten knocks in the knockouts of DPL. The skipper smashed 258 runs off 130 balls combined in the last three matches, including the Eliminator, Qualifier 2, and the final.

He finished the season with 393 runs in 11 matches at an average of 65.50 with an outrageous strike-rate of 181.94. Rana concluded the tournament as the fourth-highest scorer in the DPL 2025 season.