Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Sameer Rizvi’s unbeaten 70 and his 119-run partnership with Tristan Stubbs helped Delhi Capitals kick off their campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 with a thumping six-wicket victory over hosts Lucknow Super Giants at the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on April 1.
The strategy of LSG revolved around the pace bowling attack from the onset; consequently, the four-pronged seam attack made it easy for them to force the Delhi Capitals to early on in their run chase of 142 runs. The seamers created plenty of opportunity for movement right from the first ball, which proved too much for KL Rahul (0), who sliced a full outswinger delivery of Mohammad Shami to deep backwards point.
Nitish Rana also struggled, managing a few boundaries from loose deliveries but generally failing to find his timing before edging a ball from Mohsin Khan to the keeper after a hesitant stay.
Prince Yadav was instrumental with the ball. After forcing Pathum Nissanka to play a top edge shot — which Rishabh Pant caught after running in at an angle and diving, thus causing him to collide with the fence — he then delivered the standout delivery of the Power-play with one that swung late and hit Axar Patel’s stumps after he attempted to flick the ball away on a fuller delivery that had previously swung away from him.
As the ball continued to seam and swing late into the innings, LSG kept using pace, even pushing Mohammed Shami to bowl his full quota within the first nine overs for more breakthroughs.
