Follow UsDelhi Capitals (DC) were flying high in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, having won all their four matches heading into the clash against Mumbai Indians (MI). In all fairness, they should have made it five in five, but a resurgent MI team pulled off a victory from the jaws of defeat, making this a small blip in DC's perfect campaign.
In IPL since 2024, every team that has won the toss at the Arun Jaitley Stadium have chosen to bowl, and every time they have lost and MI had never lost a game in where they were defending a total of 200 or more. DC would have hoped to be the first team to change both trends.
Chasing 206, DC made a terrible start to the run-chase as they lost a wicket off the very first delivery. In walked impact player Karun Nair, getting a chance to play in the Indian Premier League for the first time since 2022.
He walked in at the back of sensational performances across formats.
863 at 53.93 in Vidarbha's Ranji Trophy title-winning season, 779 runs at 389.50, including five tons in Vidarbha's Vijay Hazare Trophy, including five tons in eight innings and 473 runs at a strike rate of 165 in T20s before this game since 2023: Safe to say Karun Nair was on top of his game across formats.
And it showed.
He took down Jasprit Bumrah with utmost ease smashing 26 off just nine balls, 18 off 8 against Hardik Pandya, 15 off 6 against Karn Sharma and 12 off 5 against Trent Boult. Anything Mumbai Indians (MI) threw at him, he was up for it. He got to his fifty off just 22 deliveries, in the powerplay and that set the tone for the chase.
His 119-run stand off just 61 deliveries with Abishek Porel set the tone for the run-chase. But once DC lost Karun in the 12th over for 89 off 40, things went downhill for DC.
The equation was simple. DC needed 71 off the last 50 deliveries, but they had to do it with two new batters at the crease. However, the good news for DC is that they had brilliant hitters in KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Vipraj Nigam, and Ashutosh Sharma. DC had won from tougher positions in the recent past, and by those standards, this would be a cakewalk.
Karn and Mitchell Santner went for plenty, but they picked up five wickets in the middle overs and death, which never allowed MI to get on a roll. Bumrah's figures might read 1/44, but outside the Karun assault, he gave away just 18 off his remaining 15 deliveries.
Moreover, DC failed to build any partnership after the Porel-Karun stand. No player took the responsibility to stay out there till the end, and the three run-outs, in the end, did them no favor either.
DC needed just 87 off 58 with eight wickets in hand when their partnership was broken. The hard work was done, but it was eventually undone by those who followed. While there's nothing for DC to be alarmed about, this loss would certainly hurt them.