Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Axar Patel talked about not bowling his full quota of 4 overs in the recent IPL 2026 game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 1 in Lucknow. DC had won the toss, and Axar Patel had decided to bowl first.
The decision proved to be terrific as LSG only managed 141 runs, with Mitchell Marsh (35) and Abdul Samad (36) being the top scorers. Lungi Ngidi and T Natarajan starred for DC with three wickets each to their name.
Axar Patel bowled 3 overs, taking 1/17, and in the post-match presentation admitted that he miscalculated the overs and ended up not bowling his full quota of four overs.
“It finished early, but in the middle it became close. We just needed one partnership, and that's what we spoke about in the break. Very happy with the bowling effort. When we started with the ball, we knew there was a bit of help for the bowlers; that was communicated to whoever was coming onto the bowl.
You see how the match is going; there was a bigger and smaller boundary, and I was seeing who I could bowl to. In the end, I might have miscalculated 1-2 overs (ek over idhar-udhar ho gaya)," Axar said in the post-match presentation.
In the chase, LSG pacers rattled the DC top-order as well, reducing them to 26/4. But then Sameer Rizvi and Tristan Stubbs added an unbeaten 100-plus partnership to steer DC home by 6 wickets. Stubbs made 39* in 32 balls, while Rizvi shone with 70* in 47 deliveries, playing an innings of maturity and intent.
Axar revealed that the Delhi Capitals had retained both Rizvi and Ashutosh Sharma as impact player options depending on how the game progressed, finally trusting Rizvi to go in and deliver under pressure.
"The plan was to play Rizvi, but also have the option of Ashutosh Sharma. Maybe if we had not lost those early wickets, then things might have been different. But yes, last year Ashu did well to win us the first game, and this time, Rizvi. He (Rizvi) works hard on his game and keeps asking how he can improve himself," Axar said.
Delhi Capitals will next play their first home game in Delhi, against MI on April 4 in a day game.
