Starc four-fer, death batting keep Delhi Capitals alive

Delhi Capitals stung Rajasthan Royals in the death overs in both innings to keep their topsy-turvy IPL campaign alive with a five-wicket win in Delhi. Mitchell Starc led the way with the ball with a four-fer that included a three-wicket over while the likes of Axar Patel, David Miller and Ashutosh Sharma joined forces with the bat at the death to see the game through for two crucial points. The loss meant RR missed the chance to move up to fourth.

Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 193/8 (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 46, Riyan Parag 51, Dhruv Jurel 53; Mitchell Starc 4-40, Lungi Ngidi 2-24, Madhav Tiwari 2-27) lost to Delhi Capitals 197/5 in 19.2 overs (KL Rahul 56, Axar Patel 34*; Jofra Archer 2-35) by 5 wickets.

What did Vaibhav Sooryavanshi do?

For the fifth time in IPL 2026, Sooryavanshi got off the mark with a six – off Lungi Ngidi. Yashasvi Jaiswal fell in that over but Sooryavanshi carried on, hitting a sensational pull against Mitchell Starc. He then went after DC debutant Tripurana Vijay in the fifth over for three fours and a six. RR reached 75/1 in 6 overs with Sooryavanshi smashing 42 (16).

Onto Riyan Parag and his achievement

Parag played his best knock of an otherwise underwhelming season. He started slow but clobbered two towering sixes against Axar Patel and then smashed Mukesh Kumar for 23 runs in the 12th over. He got to a 23-ball half-century – his fastest in the IPL.

160/2 in 14 overs, then 33/6 in the last 6

Mitchell Starc returned to completely throw RR off track with a triple-wicket over. First Parag mistimed a slower one to long-on, Donovan Ferreira then hit to the same fielder, and debutant Ravi Singh got a second-ball duck. Dhruv Jurel became the second half-centurion but was tied down at the end. Madhav Tiwari executed his slower ones superbly in the 17th over and dismissed Shubham Dubey. Dasun Shanaka hit Ngidi for a six but was snuffed out by Starc. Ngidi trapped Jurel leg before in the final over where only five runs were scored.

DC's best batting Powerplay

KL Rahul enjoyed a charmed life – dropped on 0 by Yash Raj Punja in the opening over from Jofra Archer. Abishek Porel pulled Archer over fine leg for a six and hit two fours off Brijesh Sharma to take DC to 50/0 in four overs. DC reached 72/0 in the Powerplay, with Porel scoring 38 off 20 balls.

DC reached 105/0 in 10 overs. Porel then mistimed a slower one to long-on. Archer took out Sahil Parakh while Punja bowled tight overs. Rahul got to his 50th fifty-plus IPL score but then played onto his stumps off Dasun Shanaka. Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs needed 52 off 30 at the death.

Adam Milne kept it tight in a boundary-less nine-run over. Archer dismissed Stubbs to peg DC back. With Axar and David Miller at the crease, Parag handed the ball to Donovan Ferreira for off-spin – the gamble backfired as 16 runs came, leaving 19 off 12. Brijesh returned and dismissed Miller, but DC's impact substitute Ashutosh Sharma smashed a five-ball 18 to see DC through.

DC wrap up their league phase against KKR at Eden Gardens on May 24. RR host LSG on May 19.