Delhi Capitals returned to winning ways as they thumped Punjab Kings at Dharamsala on Monday night to stay alive in the 2026 Indian Premier League. Two of their more criticised stars this season orchestrated their fifth win in 12 games.
Both Axar Patel and David Miller were woefully out of form with the bat. Miller didn’t even make it to the XI in the last three matches. Chasing 211 to win in 13 degrees Celsius, DC looked out of the contest at one point, having lost their top order — comprising Abishek Porel, KL Rahul and Sahil Parakh — inside the powerplay. That’s when Axar walked in and took charge of the chase straight away.
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Tristan Stubbs struggled at the other end, however, and eventually departed for 12 off 17 balls. Axar was looking good, but the target was way too big. Delhi fans would not have expected much, but then something out of the ordinary happened.
Miller walked in after the departure of fellow South African Stubbs and batted as per the need of the hour. He let Axar express himself and held his end tight. Axar got out against the run of play though, after a 64-run stand. He made 56 off 30 balls. His innings had breathed plenty of life into DC’s chase.
Now was the time for Miller to take charge, to redeem himself. Last month, DC failed to score two off two against Gujarat Titans with Miller on strike in New Delhi. He redeemed himself in style.
After Axar was gone, Miller unleashed the beast in him. At the time of Axar’s wicket, Miller was on 26 off 17 balls. His next 25 came off 11 balls, with him particularly punishing Marco Jansen and Ben Dwarshuis in the 16th and 17th overs, picking up three sixes and one four in all before perishing to the Australian.
It has to be said, both Axar and Miller, despite the scoreboard telling a different story at the time of their arrivals to the crease, had the body language of champions. Irrespective of the tough equation, not once did they appear to have given up. If anything, they were all the more charged up and looked determined to arrest their team’s losing streak.
Let’s not forget the lower-order effort!
Miller’s batting had well and truly set the stage. Ashutosh Sharma (24 off 10 balls), Madhav Tiwari (18 not out off 8 balls), Auqib Nabi (10 not out off 2 balls), all chipped in with important runs to keep play-off hopes alive for Delhi Capitals. Earlier in the match, Man-of-the-Match Tiwari had also taken the important wickets of Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly.
Nabi too returned to the DC Playing XI after a long time. He played his previous game against the same opposition last month in New Delhi and was part of a team that failed to defend 264. Anyway, tonight he bowled well with figures of 0/32 in four overs. He also took a nice catch and hit those lusty blows right at the end to finish off the match with six balls to spare.
It was indeed a great night for the Delhi franchise. They have received a lot of flak in recent weeks, and from here, even though their hopes are slim, if they somehow reach the play-offs, it will be redemption of the highest order. Excellent effort from Axar, Miller and those three lower-order batters, for standing tall in an important match!