New Delhi, Apr 4: Impact substitute Sameer Rizvi continued his red-hot form with another fine half-century as an all-round Delhi Capitals outclassed Mumbai Indians by six wickets in their first home game of the 2026 IPL season here on Saturday.
Chasing 163, the 22-year-old Rizvi (90 off 51 balls) took apart the MI attack with a fluent knock studded with seven fours and as many sixes.
After suffering a top-order wobble for the second successive game, Delhi Capitals steadied through a 66-run stand for the third wicket between Rizvi and Pathum Nissanka, who scored 44 off 30 balls.
Rizvi then added 78 runs with David Miller (17 not out) as the hosts completed the chase with 11 balls to spare.
Initially playing second fiddle to Nissanka, Rizvi shifted gears after the Sri Lankan’s dismissal, taking on the bowlers with ease.
The youngster smashed back-to-back fours followed by two towering sixes, including one over deep backward point, to plunder 20 runs off the 11th over bowled by Corbin Bosch.
He continued the assault in the next over, whipping consecutive sixes off Mayank Markande to seize complete control of the chase.
He was unlucky to miss out on his debut IPL ton but received a standing ovation from the crowd when he Bosch got him out.
This was after Delhi Capitals bowlers dominated to restrict Mumbai Indians to a modest 162 for six despite stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s a patient half-century.
Suryakumar anchored the innings with a 36-ball 51, hitting three fours and two sixes, while Rohit Sharma hit 35 even as other MI batters found it difficult in the middle.
Delhi’s bowlers, however, kept things tight.
Skipper Axar Patel was exceptional, conceding just 22 runs in his four overs and removing the dangerous Rohit Sharma.
Leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam (1/24 in 3 overs) chipped in with a wicket, while Kuldeep Yadav (0/31 in 3 overs) proved slightly expensive.
The pace trio of Mukesh Kumar (2/26), Lungi Ngidi (1/34) and T Natarajan (1/24) also played their part, sharing four wickets between them.
Mukesh struck early, removing the in-form Ryan Rickelton with a good-length delivery that was miscued to Axar at mid-off.
Two balls later, he produced a return catch to dismiss Tilak Varma for a duck, leaving Mumbai Indians two down inside the powerplay.
Rohit (35) and Suryakumar then steadied the innings with a 53-run partnership.
Rohit got going with the first six of the match, dispatching an overpitched ball from Nigam over long-on, while Suryakumar followed up with a maximum off the next delivery.
However, Delhi spinners tightened the screws soon after. Axar accounted for Rohit, who mistimed a shot to the cover region where Nitish Rana completed a fine catch.
Vipraj then dismissed Sherfane Rutherford (5), with Mukesh taking a good catch close to the boundary.
Suryakumar, leading in the absence of Hardik Pandya, tried to accelerate alongside Naman Dhir (28) as Mumbai crossed the 100-run mark. The pair targeted wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, collecting 15 runs in the 15th over, including two sixes.
But just after bringing up his fifty, Suryakumar was trapped leg-before by Ngidi, who cleverly took pace off the delivery.
Death over specialist Natarajan then dismissed Naman as MI continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. (PTI)
