It was a night of momentum swings and ruthless execution. Rajasthan Royals unleashed chaos through Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel, but Mitchell Starc slammed the brakes at the death.
A resolute team effort then helped Delhi Capitals stay alive in the tournament with a five-wicket win – the 194-run target chased with four balls to spare – at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Sunday.
Asked to bat, all eyes were on out-of-form Yashasvi Jaiswal. As his partner Vaisbhav Sooryavanshi began his innings with a six (the sixth time he’s done so this season), Jaiswal too began with intent, smacking Starc for three crisp boundaries. But his stay ended soon after, with Lungi Ngidi outfoxed him with a well-disguised slower ball, which he top-edged to Starc at short third man.
After RR handed Jurel and Sooryavanshi early lifelines, Madhav Tiwari scooped up the latter as he miscued a slower ball with David Miller covering 24 meters to his right to pull off a diving catch at long-on.
DC’s fielding woes then resurfaced to let control slip, Tristan Stubbs failing to get his fingers under the ball at long-on after Riyan Parag’s tennis forehand-like swipe – marking the side’s 22nd dropped catch of the campaign.
The consequences were instant. Parag tore into Axar Patel with a pair of towering sixes before taking apart Mukesh Kumar for 23 runs, racing to a 23-ball half-century. Starc then pegged momentum back, dismissing Parag, Donovan Ferreira, and Ravi Singh in quick succession, triggering a drop in the run rate which even a fighting Jurel couldn’t help.
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In response, Abishek Porel and K.L. Rahul powered the Capitals to 72 without loss by the end of the PowerPlay.
While their 105-run stand ended when Porel fell to Brijesh Sharma, Rahul continued serenely, bringing up his ninth half-century against Royals. Dasun Shanaka was, thus, understandably animated when Rahul chopped onto his leg stump.
With 43 runs to defend off the last four overs, Jofra Archer removed Stubbs to tilt the equation sharply back in RR’s favour. Axar, however, refused to concede. He and Ashutosh Sharma counterpunched adamantly and helped DC finish its home campaign on a high.
Published on May 17, 2026
