Tristan Stubbs came good and guided Delhi Capitals to their third win in the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. Chasing 176 to win, the visitors were in a massive spot of bother when Pathum Nissanka, Karun Nair and Sameer Rizvi were sent back inside three overs.
DC had come into the match on the back of successive losses against Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans, and at that stage, it appeared they were in for another defeat. But then Stubbs had other ideas. Hanging in was the need of the hour, and that’s precisely what he did. He added 69 runs with KL Rahul (57 off 34 balls) and let him do the bulk of the scoring.
Stubbs was subdued for the last part of his innings; however, in one of the most difficult overs of the innings — because it was bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had already taken three wickets for very few runs — he made a big difference. It was the 18th over, and DC needed 37 off 18. His six off Bhuvi off the fourth ball breathed a lot of life into DC’s chase. There had been a couple of quiet overs prior to that. Later in the 19th over, he hit Rasikh Dar for a four too to keep his team in the hunt, and David Miller did the rest in the last over and hit two sixes and a four to take DC to their third win.
A game of nerves, for sure!
At the post-match presentation, Stubbs admitted it was a tough game and required a lot of effort from him. “[In at 18/3] I wasn’t quite ready in the changing room. I just thought of watching the ball and going from there. Came in really early and last two overs of the powerplay, I thought I could have a go. KL ended up having most of the strike and played great shots and kept up our momentum,” Stubbs said.
“I thought he was going well so I was just giving him the strike. The pitch wasn’t spinning or anything, but just a little slow and low. Pretty much what I play on back at home,” he added.
Stubbs also revealed that despite the asking rate going up in the last few overs, he had not given up. “Kept thinking three sixes and we’re straight back in it. I always thought the worst case, in the last over, we can get whatever we need. But I didn’t want to take it into the last over. I knew we were going to do it, but I didn’t know how. But thankfully, Miller was at the other end. It’s his bread and butter,” he said.
