It took the Uttar Pradesh-born Sameer Rizvi’s familiarity with the conditions at the Ekana Cricket Stadium for Delhi Capitals to tide over an early crisis and post a six-wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants in their Indian Premier League opener here on Wednesday (April 1, 2026).
Rizvi got off the mark with a hurried single off his ninth ball. The Capitals had lost four wickets in the PowerPlay, and a 142-run target didn’t warrant recklessness. In an era of frenetic hitting, the 22-year-old Rizvi displayed maturity. He betrayed his Gen Z traits only in the eighth over when he ramped the pacy Anrich Nortje for a six over third-man.
Rizvi showed game awareness when he took on Shahbaz Ahmed and Aiden Markram, the weak links in the host’s lineup. He laid into Shahbaz’s first over with three fours and pillaged a four and a six off Markram to raise his 37-ball half-century.
With 36 runs needed at run-a-ball, Tristan Stubbs and Rizvi completed the formality.
But the pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav and Mohsin Khan gave the Capitals a mighty scare in the PowerPlay. While Shami got the crowd roaring with the first-ball wicket of KL Rahul, Mohsin removed Nitish Rana soon after.
Prince, with his consistent pace and accuracy, was the silver lining of Super Giants’ defeat. He nabbed Pathum Nissanka with a length ball and cleaned up Axar Patel with a menacing in-swinger that zipped off the surface.
Earlier, Super Giants tried to fix something that wasn’t broken and paid the price immediately, with the star quartet of Rishabh Pant, Markram, Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh back in the dugout by the 10th over.
After the Capitals opted to bowl on a red-soil surface, Pant, opening only for the sixth time in his IPL career, started with a sumptuous on-drive. But before the skipper could justify his self-promotion, his partner Marsh’s ill-fated straight drive left Pant stranded at the non-striker’s end. Marsh and Markram, an explosive opening pair last season, joined forces for a brisk 29-run stand before the spin pair of Axar and Kuldeep Yadav outfoxed them.
Abdul Samad kept the host afloat with a 25-ball 36, but T. Natarajan and Lungi Ngidi’s variations eventually sank the host.
Scoreboard
Lucknow Super Giants
Mitchell Marsh c Stubbs b Kuldeep 35 (28b, 2×4, 3×6), Rishabh Pant run out 7 (9b, 1×4), Aiden Markram b Axar 11 (8b, 1×4, 1×6), Ayush Badoni c Rahul b Natarajan 0 (3b), Nicholas Pooran b Ngidi 8 (8b, 1×4), Abdul Samad c Miller b Natarajan 36 (25b, 3×4, 1×6), Mukul Choudhary c & b Kuldeep 14 (11b, 2×4), Shahbaz Ahmed (Impact Player for Marsh) (not out) 15 (16b, 1×4), Mohammed Shami c Kuldeep b Natarajan 1 (2b), Anrich Nortje c Stubbs b Ngidi 0 (1b), Mohsin Khan c Mukesh b Ngidi 0 (1b); Extras (b-4, lb-8, w-2): 14; Total (in 18.4 overs): 141.
Fall of Wickets
1-19 (Pant, 2.6 overs), 2-48 (Markram, 5.5), 3-49 (Badoni, 6.3), 4-65 (Pooran, 8.5), 5-71 (Marsh, 9.3), 6-105 (Mukul, 13.1), 7-138 (Samad, 17.3), 8-140 (Shami, 17.6), 9-141 (Nortje, 18.3)
Capitals Bowling
Mukesh 3-0-17-0, Ngidi 3.4-0-27-3, Axar 3-0-17-1, Natarajan 4-0-29-3, Kuldeep 4-0-31-2, Vipraj 1-0-8-0.
Delhi Capitals
K.L. Rahul c Mohsin b Shami 0 (1b), Pathum Nissanka c Pant b Prince 1 (5b), Nitish Rana c Samad b Mohsin 15 (17b, 2×4, 1×6), Sameer Rizvi (Impact Player for Natarajan) (not out) 70 (47b, 5×4, 4×6), Axar Patel b Prince 0 (1b), Tristan Stubbs (not out) 39 (32b, 3×4, 1×6); Extras (lb-4, w-16): 20; Total (for four wkts. in 17.1 overs): 145.
Fall of Wickets
1-0 (Rahul, 0.1), 2-21 (Nitish, 3.3), 3-25 (Nissanka, 4.2), 4-26 (Axar, 4.3).
Super Giants Bowling
Shami 4-0-28-1, Prince 3-0-20-2, Mohsin 4-1-19-1, Nortje 4-0-39-0, Shahbaz 1-0-16-0, Markram 1-0-13-0, Samad 0.1-0-6-0.
Toss: Capitals; PoM: Rizvi.
Capitals won by six wickets with 17 balls to spare.
Published – April 01, 2026 08:18 pm IST
