Brief Score: Delhi Capitals (145/4 in 17.1 ov) beat Lucknow Super Giants (141 all-out) by six wickets in Lucknow.
LSG vs DC, IPL 2026: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD
On a rare IPL night when the ball spoke louder than the bat, Sameer Rizvi found his voice. And in doing so, he showed what belief, held through the quiet, difficult days, can become.
Once the Rs 8.4 crore bet for Chennai Super Kings, Rizvi played an innings that felt like both redemption and arrival. His unbeaten 70 off 40 balls was not a blaze, but a slow, steady unfurling on a surface that finally offered bowlers a breath. It was enough to guide Delhi Capitals through a tense chase of 142 against Lucknow Super Giants in their IPL 2026 opener in Lucknow.
Sameer Rizvi needed eight balls to break his silence. At one stage, he was 4 off 11, feeling his way in.
But the 22-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, often likened to a left-handed Suresh Raina, did not flinch. He absorbed the pressure, stood firm, and waited, even as the Lucknow Super Giants pace attack breathed fire at the Ekana.
The innings gathered weight as it went. And when paired with Tristan Stubbs’ calm presence, it became decisive. Together, they carried Delhi from the edge of collapse to the safety of a six-wicket win, sealing the chase in 17.1 overs.
Because, not long before that, Delhi were staring at the familiar chaos of a faltering start. At 26 for 4, with KL Rahul, Pathum Nissanka, Axar Patel and Nitish Rana already back in the pavilion, the night threatened to slip away.
But Rizvi did not rush. Nor did Stubbs. They absorbed, waited, listened. Around them, the LSG pacers, led by Prince Yadav, bent the game to their will, moving the ball both ways and stirring the Lucknow crowd into a frenzy.
And then, almost quietly, the tide turned.
Rizvi began to find the gaps. Stubbs found the moments. The pressure loosened, then dissolved. What began as survival grew into control, and control into command. Their unbeaten 119-run stand was not just a partnership, but a reclamation.
By the end, the chase felt inevitable. Clinical, even.
Delhi, in the process, stretched their winning run against Lucknow Super Giants to five games. In a derby that is beginning to find its rhythm, the Capitals are setting the tone, firm, assured, and increasingly unshakeable.
SPIN, THE DIFFERENCE?
While the pacers from both sides hit their straps on the red-soil pitch, the difference, beyond Rizvi and Stubbs’ composure, lay in how the spinners were used.
Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav combined for seven overs of control and craft, returning figures of 3 for 48. In contrast, LSG’s spin options failed to hold their end. Shahbaz Ahmed, brought in as the Impact Sub ahead of first-choice spinner Digvesh Rathi, could not replicate the same control, conceding 16 in his only over. Aiden Markram, pressed into service almost as an afterthought, went for 13.
LSG’s overseas quick Anrich Nortje endured a forgettable outing. On a night when most pacers thrived, the South African struggled for rhythm and control, conceding 39 runs in four wicketless overs and leaving his captain Rishabh Pant short of options.
Tactically, LSG were off the mark. There were too many missteps with the bat, and in the end, 141 proved insufficient, despite a stirring opening burst from Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav and Mohsin Khan.
Prince, in particular, had the crowd on edge. He produced a searing delivery to dismiss Axar Patel in the same over he removed Pathum Nissanka, a spell that briefly tilted the contest. Alongside Shami and Mohsin, he kept things tight, the trio conceding at under seven an over. But the lack of support from the rest of the attack proved costly.
For Pant and his men, it was a night of frustration. At home, on a pitch that demanded adjustment, they fell short, especially with the bat.
RISHABH PANT GAMBLE FAILS
Earlier in the day, Lucknow Super Giants raised a few eyebrows by sending Rishabh Pant to open alongside Mitchell Marsh. While Pant was given his preferred IPL role, it meant breaking up their most productive pair of Aiden Markram and Marsh at the top. It was a bold tactical call, but leaving out Markram, especially after his productive T20 World Cup, was open to debate.
Pant and Marsh, though, ensured LSG got a steady start. Mukesh Kumar and Lungi Ngidi kept things tight, exploiting a surface that was far from a batters’ paradise. Just when it seemed the pair would shift gears after seeing off half the powerplay, misfortune struck.
The rub of the green has rarely favoured Pant in his roller-coaster career, and it did not here either. There was stunned silence at the Ekana as he was run out at the non-striker’s end after Mukesh got a fingertip to Marsh’s leading edge. Marsh survived a tough caught-and-bowled chance, but that deflection left Pant stranded well short.
Pant cut a visibly disappointed figure on the long walk back after scoring just seven off nine. He had not looked fluent, but there were signs of patience, of an innings being built.
His dismissal triggered a mini collapse. Markram, in at No. 3, fell in the final over of the powerplay. Axar Patel, bringing himself on early, was rewarded. After lofting a delightful stroke over the captain’s head, Markram misjudged the length of a fullish delivery and paid the price as it sneaked under his bat.
WHY HOLD POORAN BACK?
At No. 4, LSG held Nicholas Pooran back and sent Ayush Badoni instead, who had looked in fine touch in the nets on the eve of the game. The move backfired. Badoni chased a wide, swinging delivery from T Natarajan and departed without troubling the scorers.
Natarajan, introduced immediately after the powerplay, made an instant impact and eased any concerns over his fitness after an injury-hit last season with Delhi Capitals.
Yet LSG’s approach remained puzzling. Opening with Pant had its logic, but it came at the cost of maximising Pooran’s time at the crease. Even a No. 4 slot seemed the minimum expectation. Instead, the decision to delay him defied a basic T20 principle: let your best batter face the most balls.
THE NGIDI SLOWER BALL
Pooran’s stay was brief, almost a cameo. Delhi’s planning was sharp. Before he could settle, Axar turned back to Ngidi, replacing Natarajan despite his wicket in the previous over. Ngidi delivered, executing his off-cutter with the same control he showed at the T20 World Cup.
It was an early contender for the ball of the tournament. It dipped, gripped and beat Pooran for both pace and movement, leaving the West Indian tangled as the ball sneaked through the gap between bat and pad.
Trouble deepened for LSG when Kuldeep Yadav joined the act. Marsh, who had been fighting a lone battle and adapting well to the pace of the pitch, was undone by a sharp googly that spun past his defences.
With Marsh gone for 35, LSG were reeling at 71 for 5 at the halfway stage.
A brief stand between Abdul Samad and Mukul Chowdhary offered some resistance, but Kuldeep cut it short with another googly, this time accounting for Mukul.
At 105 for 6, LSG were forced into another bold call. Having picked four frontline pacers, they brought in all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed in place of Digvesh Rathi, their premier spinner and likely Impact Sub.
The move did not pay off. LSG were bowled out for 141 in 18.4 overs. Shahbaz was left stranded on 15 off 16 balls. He added 33 with Abdul Samad, who was the brightest spark for LSG. Samad scored 36 off 25, with three fours and a six, before falling in the 18th over to Natarajan.
It was Natarajan again who struck twice in an over to derail LSG’s last push. Ngidi followed up by cleaning up the tail in the 19th, completing a clinical bowling performance.
IPL 2026 | IPL Schedule | IPL Points Table | IPL Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
– Ends
