Delhi Capitals Abishek Porel drives Ravi Bishnoi of Lucknow Super Giants during IPL match at Ekana stadium, in Lucknow on on April 22, 2025
| Photo Credit: Sandeep Saxena

Like any other cricketer from the country, young Delhi Capitals opener Abishek Porel aspires to represent India in the future but said his current focus is to help his side win its maiden Indian Premier League trophy this year.

Chasing 160, the 22-year-old made 51 off 36 balls to help DC win by eight wickets against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday (April 22, 2025).

“Obviously, I am enjoying every innings, trying to develop in every innings. The future plan is to play for India, play for the country for a long period,” Porel said at the post-match press conference.

“But current focus is the IPL trophy, how can I help the team in winning the trophy, how can I contribute for DC. This matters a lot right now.

“I know my game and the support staff also knows that. The support staff always tells me to play freely and not to take any tension.”

DC bowlers come good

Asked to bat, LSG made a quick start with Aiden Markram (52) and Mitchell Marsh (45) sharing 87 runs for the opening stand in 10 overs.

But DC bowlers made a brilliant comeback with Mukesh Kumar (4/33) leading from the front to restrict LSG to 159 for 6, a target which Porel feels was gettable.

“The wicket was very good, so 160 score was a bit less, so we had that in mind that we need to chase these runs. Good toss to win. There was not much difference but the skipper took a good decision,” Porel said.

“They (LSG) got runs initially but we knew we can restrict them in middle overs. We had good spinners so we backed ourselves and made a comeback with some good bowling in the second half.”

LSG assistant coach Vijay Dahiya said the hosts lost the momentum in the second half of their innings after a bright start.

“I think leaving pitch, you can see that we scored over 80 runs in nine overs. From there we lost the momentum a bit. We had the momentum and we should have taken advantage of that,” he said.

“Let’s give credit where its due. I think Delhi Capitals’ bowlers assessed the conditions better. They made a very good comeback.”

Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis heads up a stellar cast of athletes kicking off the 16th Diamond League season in Xiamen on Saturday amid a changing landscape that has seen Michael Johnson launch his Grand Slam track series.

Petr Stastny, CEO of the Diamond League, insisted that he welcomed competition, but added he thought the 15-meet circuit he oversees was the “backbone” of global athletics, with a record US$9.2 million in prize money on offer.

“You will get the most comprehensive coverage on the highest possible level of competition in our sport, in track and field. Great arenas, great big crowds,” Stastny said.

Former U.S. sprint star Johnson is the founder of Grand Slam Track, which debuted in Kingston earlier this month.

Conceived by Johnson as a way of reinvigorating interest in athletics outside of Olympic years, his four-event series aims to showcase more races between the world’s best runners, sprinters and hurdlers. There are no field events.

“We feel strongly that the sport is more than just track and we will continue growing the sport and not just a part of the sport,” said Stastny. “We see other events and series being established around us, which we are, generally speaking, happy about.

“But we are the backbone of the sport between the major championships, including the Olympics. We have track and field, that’s one. We are truly global.

“With one event in Jamaica and three in the United States I think it depends how you define global,” he said in reference to the Grand Slam Series.

“I see there a substantial difference. Being truly global means that you have athletes from a lot of countries and so far we’ve had it in the Diamond League — athletes from 142 countries competing. I don’t see that happening, at least for now, anywhere else.”