IPL 2026 | Capitals, MI keen to show their prowess in afternoon clash

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:35:00 +0000

MI’s Surya Kumar and DC’s Rahul exchange pleasantries during a practice session on Friday, April 03, 2026, ahead of theor IPL match at the Arun Jaitley stadium in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY

In a tournament as long as the Indian Premier League, a franchise’s opening fixture isn’t necessarily indicative of how the season will transpire. At this early stage, there is plenty of room for lessons to be gleaned, plans to be fine-tuned and combinations to be tweaked.

Mumbai Indians’ Surya Kumar Yadav during a practice session on the eve of the IPL T20 Match at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in New Delhi on April 03, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
R.V. MOORTHY

That said, a win to begin proceedings certainly settles the nerves and spreads positive vibes. Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians, which will meet at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Saturday afternoon, will attest after victories in their opening fixtures.

While DC overcame a jittery start to a chase of 142 to register a six-wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants, Hardik Pandya’s men never looked in strife in pursuit of 221 against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Delhi Capitals’ K.L. Rahul during a practice session on the eve of the IPL T20 Match at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in New Delhi on April 03, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
R.V. MOORTHY

For the five-time champion, a leaner and fitter Rohit Sharma was in full flow against KKR, scoring 78 and stitching together an opening stand of 148 runs with Ryan Rickelton. With the 38-year-old’s involvement at the international level confined to the 50-over format, he was available for the entirety of MI’s pre-season preparations this time.

“He joined us on day one of our camp. We did a lot of simulations, we had quite a few practice matches that we played, so he was part of all that. The hand speed was pretty good,” said MI coach Mahela Jayawardene on Friday.

“We play with heart, we play with passion.”

Skipper and team back home pic.twitter.com/qkU3hnpKkS

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 3, 2026

In marked contrast to MI’s opening pair, DC’s top-order appeared shaky at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. If Capitals still emerged unscathed, it was owing to Sameer Rizvi and Tristan Stubbs forging a fine alliance from 26 for four.

The surface for Saturday’s fixture is expected to be full of runs. Jayawardene sees it as par for the course in the early part of the campaign. “The wickets will get slower as the season progresses. You have to let that natural process happen and not worry too much about the first few games,” he said.

Published – April 03, 2026 07:05 pm IST

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Nitin Gadkari Reveals ‘Main Intention’ Behind Electoral Bonds, Recalls Meeting Arun Jaitley

admin — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 03:38:10 +0000

Nitin Gadkari spoke about the main intention behind electoral bonds scheme.

Ahmedabad:

Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said it was not possible to run a political party without funds, and added that the Centre had introduced the electoral bonds scheme, now struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, in 2017 with a “good intention”.

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said all political parties need to sit together and deliberate if the Supreme Court gives any further direction on the matter.

He made the comments at an event organised by a media house in GIFT City near Gandhinagar on Friday.

“When Arun Jaitely was (Union finance) minister, I was part of that discussion (regarding electoral bonds). No party can survive without resources. In some countries, governments fund political parties. There is no such system in India. Thus, we chose this system of financing political parties,” said Mr Gadkari on a question about electoral bonds.

He noted the “main intention behind introducing electoral bonds was that political parties get funds directly”, but the names (of donors) are not disclosed because “problems arise if the party in power changes”.

The road transport and highways minister said just like a media house needs a sponsor to finance an event, political parties also require funds to run their affairs.

“You need to see the ground reality. How are parties supposed to fight elections? We brought this system of electoral bonds to bring transparency. So, our intention was good when we brought electoral bonds. If the Supreme Court finds any shortcomings in it and asks us to rectify it, all parties will sit together and unanimously deliberate on it,” emphasised the former BJP president.

“In the interest of our country and value-based democracy, everyone needs to find a transparent way (of financing parties). Because without funds, parties can’t undertake any activity,” asserted the minister.

The Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment last week, annulled the electoral bonds scheme ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha polls.

The top court said the scheme violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information.

Since then, the State Bank of India (SBI) has released different sets of data pertaining to the electoral bonds, containing details about funds received by political parties under the scheme, to the Election Commission.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Arun Jaitley – Artifex.News

IPL 2026 | Capitals, MI keen to show their prowess in afternoon clash

Nitin Gadkari Reveals ‘Main Intention’ Behind Electoral Bonds, Recalls Meeting Arun Jaitley