By Prakash Nair 
Dharamsala, May 11: Nobody really gave DC a chance tonight. And for the first five overs of their chase, that looked completely justified.
Three wickets down inside the powerplay. KL Rahul gone for 4. Abishek Porel gone for 10. A target of 211 sitting on the board. The Dharamsala crowd already making peace with the result. Punjab Kings fans getting ready to celebrate a much-needed win that would stop a bleeding three-game losing streak.
Except cricket had other ideas.
Delhi Capitals beat Punjab Kings by 3 wickets with 6 balls to spare in Match 55 of IPL 2026 at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala tonight. They chased down 211. On a Himalayan outfield getting wetter by the over. With their top three back in the hut inside five overs. And with two relatively unknown batters Ashutosh Sharma and Madhav Tiwari finishing the job when it mattered most.
This was one of the better matches this IPL season has produced. And Punjab Kings will be absolutely devastated.
Punjab Batted Beautifully. It Just Was Not Enough.
When Priyansh Arya hit Mitchell Starc for a six off the very first ball of the match, you knew it was going to be one of those evenings at Dharamsala. Twenty-two runs came off that opening Starc over. Then Arya and Prabhsimran Singh went after Lungi Ngidi two sixes and a four in the third over and Punjab had already crossed 50 before the stadium had fully settled.
Arya reached his third fifty of the season in just 24 balls. The opening stand was worth 78 runs before Mukesh Kumar got one to move and Prabhsimran edged behind for 18. Arya followed not long after, caught at cover off young Madhav Tiwari for a blazing 56 off 33 balls.
At that point Tiwari playing only his second IPL game had become something of a problem for Punjab.
Shreyas Iyer and Cooper Connolly then put together the innings that really built the total. They batted sensibly through the middle overs when the pitch was offering a little more assistance to Delhi’s seamers, then opened up brilliantly in the back end. Connolly made 38 off 27. Iyer was simply excellent unbeaten on 59 off 36 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes, and looking every bit the captain who wanted to set his team an imposing total.
Starc came back at the death and took two wickets in two balls Stoinis and Shashank in consecutive deliveries. But Suryansh Shedge, a youngster getting a rare run in the XI, smashed 21 off just 8 balls at the end to help Punjab finish on 210 for 5.
Worth mentioning every single one of Punjab’s 20 overs was bowled by a fast bowler. Not a single spinner used in the entire innings. Apparently the last time that happened in the IPL was 2016. Strange little detail in what was already an unusual game.
Three Down Early. Nobody Panicked. That Was the Difference.
Delhi’s chase started like a nightmare.
Abishek Porel was bowled for 10 in the second over by impact player Yash Thakur, who had come in specifically for this moment. KL Rahul the most consistent batter in Delhi’s lineup all season, the man with 468 runs before tonight lasted three more balls. Out for 4. Sahil Parakh then went in the fourth over. Delhi were 33 for 3, chasing 211, with 16 overs left.
Most teams in that position in that match situation are done. The asking rate climbs. The dressing room tightens. The opposition smells blood.
Tristan Stubbs and David Miller refused to let it become that kind of evening. They rebuilt steadily, taking the score to 74 before a horrible mix-up ended Stubbs’ innings the ball hit his pads and spat towards Cooper Connolly, who had one stump to aim at and hit it cleanly. Run out. Needless. The kind of dismissal that haunts chases.
Then Axar Patel walked in, and for the first time all tournament, the Delhi captain actually batted like himself.
This man had managed 44 runs from eight innings coming into tonight. Average of 6.3. He looked completely out of form for most of this season. But tonight something clicked. He started taking Marcus Stoinis apart three consecutive fours off the death-overs specialist who came in with a strike rate of 250 this season. Then a six. Then another. He brought up his fifty in 28 balls and the crowd started genuinely wondering whether Delhi might actually pull this off.
Axar eventually holed out to long-on for 56, trying to finish an over with a six and picking out the fielder. At that stage Delhi needed 73 from six overs with five wickets down. Still felt like too much.
Miller. Then Ashutosh. Then It Was Over.
David Miller is the kind of batter who makes impossible chases feel possible. He pulled Stoinis flat over deep midwicket for six. He launched Dwarshuis over long-on. He brought up his fifty off 28 balls by clearing the ropes with casual authority. Delhi were suddenly alive in a way that felt entirely real.
Then he top-edged one trying to go even bigger, and Prabhsimran Singh took the catch running across from behind the stumps. Miller out for 51. Delhi 170 for 6. Forty-one needed off twenty-one balls.
Ashutosh Sharma and Madhav Tiwari both in the dressing room this morning probably unsure whether they would even play finished the job together.
Ashutosh was remarkable in those closing overs. He lapped deliveries over fine leg, drove through the covers with a full face of the bat, pulled anything short with no hesitation whatsoever. Tiwari at the other end just rotated strike, found boundaries when he needed to, and kept his head in conditions where many more experienced players would have panicked.
With 17 needed off 12 balls going into the final two overs, DC took 19 from one over. And then it was done. Six balls to spare. Three wickets in hand.
The Delhi dugout was on its feet.
Punjab Kings and the Question Nobody Wants to Answer
Four losses in a row.
They posted 210 tonight. On a good pitch, in good batting conditions, with their top order firing beautifully. They bowled every over with a fast bowler because the dew made spin unplayable. And they still lost.
At some point the conversation about dropped catches has to make room for a wider conversation about this bowling attack. Marco Jansen went for 45 from four overs tonight. Arshdeep was the best of them 2 for 21 but he could not do it alone. When the dew arrived around over 12 and the ball became impossible to grip, Punjab simply had no answers. The spinners could not bowl. The seamers could not control.
Shreyas Iyer has now sat through four post-match press conferences in a row after defeats. Ricky Ponting will not be pointing at the points table anymore. Punjab are still in the top four, still in the playoff race, but the gap between who they were in the first seven games and who they are right now is growing wider with every passing week.
For Delhi Capitals, tonight means something different. They are alive. Barely, mathematically, improbably but alive. Ten points. A win that nobody saw coming. Axar Patel finally batting the way everyone knew he could. David Miller doing David Miller things under pressure. And two young players in Ashutosh Sharma and Madhav Tiwari standing up when the entire season was on the line.
Whether it is enough to make the playoffs is still very doubtful. But right now, in this moment, tonight in Dharamsala Delhi Capitals remembered what it felt like to win a cricket match.
And Punjab Kings are left wondering how they just lost one they should never have given away.
Scorecards at a Glance
Punjab Kings: 210 for 5 (20 overs)
| Batter | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abishek Porel | 10 | — | — | — | — |
| KL Rahul | 4 | — | — | — | — |
| Sahil Parakh | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tristan Stubbs | — | — | — | — | — |
| David Miller | 51 | 28 | 3 | 3 | 182.14 |
| Axar Patel (c) | 56 | 36 | 6 | 2 | 155.56 |
| Ashutosh Sharma* | — | — | — | — | — |
| Madhav Tiwari* | — | — | — | — | — |
Delhi Capitals: 211 for 7 (19 overs)
| Bowler | Overs | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arshdeep Singh | 4 | 21 | 2 | 5.25 |
| Marco Jansen | 4 | 45 | 0 | 11.25 |
| Ben Dwarshuis | — | — | — | — |
| Marcus Stoinis | — | — | — | — |
| Yash Thakur | — | — | 1 | — |
Delhi Capitals won by 3 wickets with 6 balls to spare
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- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
