Aakash Chopra analysed Delhi Capitals’ (DC) performance after they defeated the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by five wickets in their last home game of the season at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, May 17.
The former India opener was particularly impressed by all-rounder Madhav Tiwari’s efforts with the ball. The 22-year-old dismissed the dangerous Vaibhav Suryavanshi after the southpaw had taken Mukesh Kumar to the cleaners.
“Vaibhav Suryavanshi started as usual. He hit Lungi Ngidi for a six and then hit Mitchell Starc for a six, but eventually he fell prey to Madhav Tiwari. Madhav bowled incredibly well. His into-the-pitch slower deliveries were outstanding. Mukesh Kumar was extremely expensive,” Chopra observed.
“There was a two-over period in which Mukesh conceded 23 runs in an over, and Madhav came and rolled his fingers over the ball, and bowled a five-to-seven-run over. He hasn’t gotten many opportunities, but he has done extremely well whenever he has gotten an opportunity. Mitchell Starc picked up three wickets in an over,” he added.
The experienced Mukesh conceded 40 runs in just two overs. Meanwhile, Madhav finished with excellent figures of 2/27 in his four-over spell. Mitchell Starc changed the game in the 15th over, dismissing three RR batters.
Delhi restricted the Royals to 193/8 after winning the toss and opting to field first. In reply, the hosts romped home with four balls and five wickets to spare.
“If he had scored runs earlier, they wouldn’t have been in this situation” – Aakash Chopra on Axar Patel’s knock in DC’s IPL 2026 win vs RR
Abishek Porel and KL Rahul scored solid half-centuries, while Axar Patel and Ashutosh Sharma finished the match with impactful cameos. Chopra opined that had skipper Axar performed like that in the previous matches, the Capitals wouldn’t be in this position, where their playoff hopes are hanging by a thread.
“KL Rahul’s knock was good at the start, but it became slightly slow later for sure. Axar Patel came good at the right time, or maybe not, because if he had scored runs earlier, they wouldn’t have been in this situation. You can reach 14 points only, and the qualification won’t happen on 14,” he said.
Chopra praised Porel and Ashutosh and questioned why the latter hadn’t been given more opportunities earlier in the tournament. He also slammed the management for leaving Kuldeep Yadav out of the side for Sunday’s fixture.
“Abishek Porel scored a good fifty. Ashutosh Sharma came in the end, and he is absolutely brilliant. Delhi, you haven’t given Ashutosh enough chances. You have also been unable to read the pitch a little. You should have played Kuldeep Yadav on this pitch. This was a slightly slowish surface on which the ball was getting stuck a little,” Chopra observed.
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