Rahul and Sooryavanshi hundreds in vain as Punjab and Hyderabad win in IPL

NEW DELHI (AP) - Delhi Capitals batter Lokesh Rahul hammered a record 152 not out in 67 balls in vain as the Punjab Kings won and pulled off the most successful run chase in Indian Premier League history on Saturday.

In the evening, Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals by five wickets at Jaipur, as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's 103 off 37 balls went in vain as well.

Punjab charged to 265-4 and a six-wicket win in 18.5 overs in reply to Delhi's 264-2. Opener Prabhsimran Singh led the chase with 76 off 26 balls, including five sixes and nine fours.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer also bludgeoned 71 not out in 36 deliveries, with seven sixes, as Punjab surpassed its own record for the previous highest successful run chase when it made 262-2 against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024. Priyansh Arya chipped in with 43 off 17 balls, including five sixes.

Earlier, opener Rahul notched the highest IPL score by an Indian batter, going past Abhishek Sharma's 141 for Sunrisers Hyderabad - also against Punjab - in 2025.

Rahul smashed nine sixes and 16 fours in his sixth IPL century, while Nitish Rana hit 91 off 44 balls as Delhi scored its highest ever total in the competition.

Prabhsimran and Priyansh Arya, who made 43 in 17 balls, gave Punjab a speedy start.

The game was halted for 14 minutes when Lungi Ngidi suffered a head injury while fielding. The Delhi paceman was taken to hospital.

Unbeaten IPL leader Punjab has six wins in seven games with one no-result. Delhi's loss was its fourth of the campaign as it slipped to sixth in the table.

Rahul and Nitish Rana faced 95 balls together and batted until the penultimate over, putting on a mammoth 220 runs for the second wicket.

It was the second highest partnership in IPL history for any wicket, after 229 runs between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Gujarat Lions in 2016.

Rahul scored 50 off 26 balls, then accelerated to his hundred off another 21 balls - 100 overall off 47 balls with 12 fours and five sixes.

His next 50 came off only 19 balls, as he hit another four sixes and another four fours.

Rana's 91 off 44 included 11 boundaries and four sixes.

In reply, Prabhsimran and Arya scored 116-0 in the powerplay overs, another record. It was the second highest powerplay score in IPL history.

Arya smashed Mukesh Kumar for six fours and 24 runs in the sixth over. Prabhsimran meanwhile, raced to 50 off 18 balls, including three sixes off Aquib Nabi in the fourth over.

Arya was caught at deep midwicket in the seventh over, and four balls later Prabhsimran was out lbw to Kuldeep Yadav.

The chase was picked up by captain Iyer and impact player Nehal Wadhera. Iyer hit 50 off 26 balls - his fourth half-century of the season - and drove Punjab past 200, taking 23 runs off Kuldeep Yadav's 16th over.

The skipper was dropped twice as Punjab won with an astonishing seven balls to spare.

The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi hit his second IPL hundred as Rajasthan put up 228-6. He hit 12 sixes to get to his century off 36 balls.

Hyderabad replied with 229-5 in 18.3 overs.

For company, Sooryavanshi had Dhruv Jurel, who scored 51 off 35. They added 112 off 62 balls for the second wicket. Donovan Ferreira's 33 off 16 balls pushed Rajasthan past 200.

For Hyderabad, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan put on 132 off 55 balls for the second wicket.

Sharma scored 57 off 29 with 11 fours and a six. Kishan reached 50 off 24 balls. He also hit 11 fours and three sixes.

Hyderabad climbed to third in the table, with its fifth win in eight games. Rajasthan was fourth, also with five wins but trailing on net run-rate.