New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) For the second game running, Sameer Rizvi walked in and changed the complexion of a chase – this time by smashing a swashbuckling 90 off 51 balls to guide Delhi Capitals to a comfortable six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians and record their second straight win of IPL 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
On a black soil pitch which was slow and got better to bat on, stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with 51 as MI posted a competitive 162/2. It was the kind of innings where MI never quite found its stride – initially, Suryakumar and Rohit Sharma steadied proceedings with a 53-run stand.
But just as the partnership threatened to build into something decisive, DC stopped them and picked wickets at regular intervals, as MI made only 38 runs in the last four overs. Mukesh Kumar was the standout bowler with 2-26. In the chase of 163, DC were at 73/3, before Rizvi got the game in his team’s favour by hitting seven fours and as many sixes at a strike-rate of 176.47.
He stitched stands of 66 and 78 with Pathum Nissanka (44) and David Miller (21 not out) as DC completed the chase with 11 balls to spare. Rizvi’s seven sixes are the joint-most hit by a DC batter against MI in IPL history, and the third-highest score by a batter from his side against the five-time champions.
As an Impact Player, only Jos Buttler and Sai Sudharsan have ever scored more in a single IPL innings than Rizvi. MI will look back at their spin bowling with some concern – it was there that DC found their opening, and Rizvi fully cashed on it to give the side just their second win in their last seven games against the five-time champions.
DC’s pursuit began on a false note – Deepak Chahar’s inswinger found the inside edge on KL Rahul’s flick and was caught by Ryan Rickelton. Nitish Rana pushed Jasprit Bumrah to the leg side, but the hesitation and then committing to the single was a fatal indecision as he was run out by the pacer.
Nissanka refused to let early tension get to him. He pulled Chahar to the fine-leg fence, flicking and reverse sweeping Mitchell Santner, before pulling, lofting, and bludgeoning Shardul Thakur for two fours and a six. Nissanka eventually top-edged a Santner delivery to short fine leg, which meant that Naman Dhir previously dropping his catch costed only three runs.
Rizvi was slow to begin with, before lofting and cutting Santner for boundaries. He opened up in imperious fashion in the 11th over – slashing, ramping, cutting and lofting Corbin Bosch for 20 runs. The crowd were on its feet when Rizvi brought up his fifty off 31 balls with back-to-back sixes against impact player Mayank Markande.
The assault from Rizvi meant MI were forced to bring back Bumrah for a breakthrough, which didn’t yield the desired result. Chahar returned to stem the run-flow, but Rizvi whipped him over deep backward square leg for six, after cutting him for four. Thakur came under severe attack from Rizvi – a four flayed past backward point was followed by one drilled through mid-off.
The highlight, though, was a muscular six over deep extra cover against the off-cutter. David Miller joined the boundary-hitting part by driving and flicking Bumrah for boundaries. Though Rizvi missed his century by just 10 runs after holing out to long-off against Bosch, the result was a foregone conclusion by then – a win for DC to begin their home run on a high.
Previously, Rickelton began by flicking Mukesh through midwicket and fine leg for fours, while fan favourite Rohit Sharma picked two boundaries off Lungi Ngidi. Mukesh corrected his opening-over mistakes by resorting to a tighter line and good length in his second. The reward was immediate – Rickelton chipped to mid-off, while Tilak Varma was undone by a cleverly disguised knuckle ball that looped back to the bowler for a simple caught-and-bowled dismissal.
At 31/2, Suryakumar began by clipping Mukesh for four, before Rohit danced down the pitch to smash an authoritative cover drive off Ngidi. Post powerplay, the sixes arrived with conviction – Rohit launched Vipraj Nigam over long-on, while Suryakumar cleared backward square leg off Axar. But Rohit’s vigil ended with him chipping a slower ball to cover off Axar, while Sherfane Rutherford holed out to deep midwicket off Nigam.
But Suryakumar pressed on – paddling, sweeping and lofting with immaculate ease – to bring up a measured fifty off 35 balls. He found able company in Dhir, with them plundering 17 runs off Kuldeep Yadav in the 15th over being a particular highlight.
Ngidi’s skiddy pace-off delivery eventually trapped Suryakumar lbw, while Dhir pulled straight to deep midwicket off Natarajan. Two boundaries each from Santner and Bosch took MI past 160, but it was insufficient to deny DC another win – thanks to another stunning show from Rizvi.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 162/6 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 51, Rohit Sharma 35; Mukesh Kumar 2-26, Axar Patel 1-22) lost to Delhi Capitals 164/4 in 18.1 overs (Sameer Rizvi 90, Pathum Nissanka 44; Deepak Chahar 1-20, Mitchell Santner 1-22) by six wickets
–IANS
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