Nitish Rana played a match-winning knock to help West Delhi Lions clinch the DPL title.
Skipper Nitish Rana led from the front for West Delhi Lions, who defeated Central Delhi Kings by six wickets in the final of Delhi Premier League to clinch their maiden title.
West Delhi Lions had won the toss and opted to field at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Central Delhi Kings went onto post 173/7 from 20 overs following fifties from Yugal Saini (65) and Pranshu Vijayran (50).
West Delhi Lions in their reply, were 48/3 in the fifth over, but Rana stood his ground. The Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter slammed 79 runs from 49 balls, hitting four fours and seven sixes.
He forged an unbeaten 85-run partnership with Hrithik Shokeen (42) for the fifth wicket, which eventually helped West Delhi Lions cross the finish line.
Rana was an integral player for West Delhi Lions and led the team by example. The 31-year-old, however, almost missed the 2025 edition of the Delhi Premier League (DPL). But why? We explain here.
It has to be noted that Rana had made a switch from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi earlier in 2025 after a difficult couple of seasons with the former.
The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) had granted Rana a No Objection Certificate (NOC) that allowed him to play for Delhi in national tournaments.
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He was, however, barred from taking part in local T20 leagues like the Delhi Premier League because of a one-year cooling-off period set by the BCCI. However, as per a report in InsideSport, there was no cooling-off period that Rana had to serve, which eventually led to his participation in the Delhi Premier League.
The southpaw had a productive season with the bat in DPL 2025, aggregating 393 runs from 11 matches at a strike-rate of 181.94. In the Eliminator game against South Delhi Supertstarz, Rana slammed 134 runs from just 55 balls, smashing eight fours and 15 sixes. His century helped West Delhi Lions chase down a target of 202 against South Delhi Superstarz with seven wickets to spare.
