Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel was pleased as punch after his team’s return to winning ways in the 2026 Indian Premier League on Friday night. The Capitals chased down a huge 226 and moved on from embarrassing defeats against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad in their previous three matches.
Mitchell Starc, for the first time, played for the Capitals this season after recovering from shoulder and elbow injuries, and he got rid of Yashasvi Jaiswal right in his first over to push Rajasthan Royals on the back foot. Then, later in the match in the 17th over, the great Aussie left-armer also dispatched Ravindra Jadeja and Riyan Parag. He eventually finished with figures of 3/40.
Also Read: KL Rahul puts strike-rate debate to rest, spills on ‘honest dressing room conversations’ after DC’s win over RR
“The way he bowled today, that’s why he’s a legend of the game. After three months away, coming back and delivering a performance like this on a wicket like this — it tells you how big a player he is. Very happy that Starc is back and showing everyone why he’s such a great bowler,” Axar spoke of Starc in glowing terms.
After Starc set RR back in his first over, Kyle Jamieson of New Zealand unleashed a high-quality yorker to see the back of the dangerous Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. On a docile wicket, getting those two dangerous batsmen early on did impact the outcome of the match.
But there was still a lot of work to do!
But despite Starc and Jamieson taking early wickets, Rajasthan managed to score 225, thanks largely to captain Parag’s 90. The Capitals still had a lot of work to do. Pathum Nissanka (62 off 33 balls) and Player of the Match KL Rahul (75 off 40 balls) were then equal to the task with solid fifties. Nitish Rana, Tristan Stubbs and Ashutosh Sharma also played important cameos as DC got over the line in 19.1 overs with seven wickets in hand. Axar was satisfied that the team performed well in either department overall.
“Even after the last match, when I was giving interviews, I was saying the same thing — that you have to come every day and keep doing the same things. You can always turn things around. So yes, very happy with the way the boys played today.
“The way they batted and bowled, I think both departments were excellent, and I’m very happy. The plan was executed exactly the way we wanted, and because of that, we got the results too.
“As a captain, you can’t be happier than that. If you can get the wickets of the opposition’s main batters — the ones who can change the game in the powerplay — then at that moment there’s nobody happier than me,” Axar said.