3 min readUpdated: Apr 2, 2026 12:33 AM IST
Sameer Rizvi’s 70 off 47 balls in a 119-run partnership in just 76 balls with Tristan Stubbs dug the Delhi Capitals out of trouble and powered them to a six-wicket win over the Lucknow Super Giants in the 2026 Indian Premier League at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday. Chasing a target of 142, Rizvi and Stubbs first steadied a rickety DC batting lineup before eventually taking the team to the target with 17 balls to spare. DC are thus off to a winning start, with this being both sides’ first match this season.
AS IT HAPPENED | LSG vs DC, IPL 2026
DC were off to a disastrous start to their chase of 142 with veteran pacer Mohammed Shami dismissing KL Rahul off the very first ball of the innings. Rahul mistimed an inside-out cover drive straight into the hands of the fielder at deep point in his golden duck. The collapse continued for DC in the powerplay, with Nitish Rana falling to Mohsin Khan in the fourth over and then Prince Yadav dismissing opener Pathum Nissanka and DC captain Axar Patel in the fifth. DC found themselves tottering at 26/4 at that point.
Earlier, Lungi Ngidi and T Natarajan led the way with three wicket each while Kuldeep Yadav picked two as LSG were all out for 141 in 18.4 overs. DC captain Axar Patel may have picked just one wicket but it was that of the dangerous Aiden Markram in the last over of the powerplay. Moreover, he ended up giving just 17 runs in his three overs.
Natarajan had been substituted off for Rizvi, thus making for a succesfull Impact Player strategy on the night for DC with both players playing centralm roles in the bowling and batting efforts respectively.
The usually aggressive Stubbs took a backseat for a change as he and Rizvi went about resurrecting the DC chase. Stubbs hit a four off the very first ball he faced while Rizvi, incredibly, took as many as nine deliveries to get off 0. The first sign of him settling in came when he ramped Anrich Nortje’s last delivery in the eighth over above deep third for a six.
Rizvi then laid into Shahbaz Ahmed in the 10th over, hitting three fours off the spinner in the over, by which point the partnership between him and Stubbs seemed to have settled. Then came three consecutive overs without a boundary but Rizvi ended the agony by hitting a six and a four off consecutive deliveries in the 14th over by Markram. That brought the equation down to 36 needed off as many balls for DC. The result never really looked in doubt after that.
