By Prakash Nair 
Lucknow, April 1: Honestly, nobody gave the Delhi Capitals much of a chance when their top four were back in the hut with just 26 runs on the board. Chasing 142. Four wickets gone. Ekana was buzzing.
But then two guys, Sameer Rizvi and Tristan Stubbs just decided the game was not over. And it wasn’t.
DC won by 6 wickets. 17 balls to spare. Job done.
Axar Backed His Bowlers, and They Delivered
When Axar Patel won the toss, he did not think twice. Bowl first. Simple as that.
The wicket was fresh, there was movement on offer, and his pace attack was loaded. Natarajan, Ngidi, Kuldeep, and Mukesh Kumar are four bowlers who know exactly what they are doing with a cricket ball in hand.
What followed was one of the cleaner bowling performances you will see in the early stages of any IPL season. Disciplined, smart, and relentless.
Pant’s Night Went Wrong From Ball One
Rishabh Pant came out to open the batting. Bold move for a captain. Aggressive statement. The kind of thing that works brilliantly or ends quickly.
It ended quickly.
Nine balls. Seven runs. Then a freakish run-out that had even the LSG fans wincing. Mitchell Marsh hit it straight back. The ball clipped Mukesh Kumar’s hand, ricocheted onto the stumps, and Pant was miles out of his crease. He laughed, walking off. What else do you do?
The thing is, that dismissal set the tone for everything that followed for LSG. None of their big guns got going after that.
Mitchell Marsh looked good for his 35. He hit the ball clean, timed it well, and looked like he was building towards something bigger. Then Kuldeep bowled him a beauty, and Stubbs took the catch at long-off. Gone.
Markram 11. Badoni did not score. Pooran 8. These are players who can win T20 matches on their own on a good day. On Wednesday night in Lucknow, none of them hung around long enough to matter.
Samad Fought. Everyone Else Did Not.
Give Abdul Samad full credit. When LSG were 65 for 4 and wobbling badly, he came out swinging.
36 runs off 25 balls. Three fours. A six. He looked like the only LSG batter who actually wanted to be out there in that moment. He took on Natarajan, who hit him for a six and a four in the same over.
But even the best individual effort has limits. When Samad tried one pull shot too many off Natarajan, and David Miller pouched it cleanly at long-on, the innings was effectively over.
Mukul Choudhary made 14. Shahbaz Ahmed stayed unbeaten on 15. But these were tail contributions, not match-changing ones.
Ngidi wrapped things up with two in the 19th over. Nortje was caught by Stubbs at long-off. Mohsin Khan is slashing one to short third. Done and dusted.
LSG: 141 all out. 18.4 overs. Eight balls unused.
Natarajan finished with 3 for 29. Ngidi took 3 for 27. Kuldeep got 2 for 31. Three bowlers, three-wicket hauls between them. LSG never had an answer.
Then DC Nearly Threw It Away
Here is where it got interesting.
Mohammed Shami first ball of the innings swung one into KL Rahul, and the edge flew through to the keeper. First ball. The Ekana crowd went absolutely wild.
Nitish Rana made 15 before Mohsin Khan got one to angle in and take the edge. Two down.
Then Prince Yadav had an over for the ages. Pathum Nissanka, playing his very first IPL match ever, tried to pull a short ball and top-edged it to Pant running in from fine leg. Sharp catch. Three down.
Next ball. Axar Patel, DC captain, the man who was supposed to steady things, came in and was bowled first ball for a duck. Same over. Two wickets.
26 for 4. Chasing 142.
At that point, even the most loyal DC fan in the ground was shifting uncomfortably in their seat.
Rizvi and Stubbs: The Quiet Match-Winners
Nobody panicked. That is the thing about Sameer Rizvi and Tristan Stubbs. They just got together, looked at each other, and quietly went about their business.
No flashy celebration after boundaries. No needless risks. Just smart cricket.
They rotated the strike. They worked the gaps. They let the bad balls come to them rather than hunting for them. And slowly, very slowly, the required run rate started coming down.
Rizvi in particular batted beautifully. He started cautiously, found his rhythm, and then opened up once the pressure eased. By the time he was done, he had 70 runs to his name, unbeaten. That is a match-winning knock by any standard, let alone one built from the wreckage of 26 for 4.
Stubbs finished on 39 not out. Understated. Effective. Exactly what the situation demanded.
The two put on over 100 runs together. A century partnership from the most unlikely position. And once they hit that landmark, the game was gone as a contest.
DC got home at 145 for 4 in 17.1 overs. Six wickets. 17 balls to spare.
What Just Happened to LSG
Look, this is one game. Long season ahead. But Rishabh Pant will not sleep easily after this.
The batting lineup that LSG put out, Pant, Marsh, Markram, Pooran, Samad, is serious firepower on paper. In practice, on their home ground, on the first night of their IPL 2026 season, they could only scrape together 141.
Five wickets for 50 runs in a T20 innings is not just a bad night. It is a pattern that needs fixing urgently. When your top order goes that cheaply, no total is ever going to be enough.
The bowling had its moments. Prince Yadav was electric in his spell, picking up both Nissanka and Axar inside a single over, but even the best bowling effort cannot cover up a 141 all-out total at the Ekana on a good batting surface.
Delhi Walk Away Happy. With a Warning.
DC is two points up and heading into their next game with confidence. The bowling clicked from the first over to the last. Axar’s captaincy call to bowl first was spot on.
That said, losing four wickets for 26 chasing just 142 will be on the coaching staff’s whiteboard by Thursday morning. On a different day against a stronger batting side, Rizvi and Stubbs might not have been enough. That top order needs to wake up.
For now, though, on April 1, the Delhi Capitals had the last laugh.
The Numbers That Matter
LSG: 141 all out in 18.4 overs. Highest score: Abdul Samad 36 off 25 DC bowling: Natarajan 3/29, Ngidi 3/27, Kuldeep 2/31
DC: 145/4 in 17.1 overs. Match-winning stand: Rizvi (70 not out) and Stubbs (39 not out). Partnership from 26/4: 100-plus runs
Result: Delhi Capitals won by 6 wickets, 17 balls remaining. Venue: Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Match 5, IPL 2026, April 1, 2026
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- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
