Delhi Capitals’ torrid slump in the IPL 2026 continued as they went down to Kolkata Knight Riders in tame fashion at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Friday. KKR restricted DC to 145 and then chased the target with 34 balls to spare, powered by a century from Finn Allen. Opening for KKR, Allen hammered an unbeaten 100 off just 47 balls, guiding the three-time champions past the finish line and lifting them above the Capital-based side in the standings.
Delhi’s struggles continued as skipper Axar Patel lamented the underwhelming show by the batting and the bowling units as DC fell to yet another defeat.
“I think the runs were definitely below par and at the same time the spinners made quite a few mistakes,” Axar began.
“We lost five wickets
in two-three overs, and I think that’s where the momentum slipped away from us.”
“That’s probably something we need to think about because the same thing happened against CSK, we started well, and then suddenly wickets kept falling,” he recollected.
KL Rahul and Pathum Nissanka put on a 49-run opening stand before Rahul was dismissed by Kartik Tyagi for 23 off 14. Cameron Green then sent back Harshit Rana for 8 off 10. Sameer Rizvi managed only 3 before falling to Sunil Narine, and Nissanka, who had reached his fifty, was dismissed by Anukul Roy.
Roy picked up a second wicket by removing Tristan Stubbs for 2, and then produced a brilliant piece of fielding to run out Axar. Ashutosh Sharma played a vital knock of 39 off 28 deliveries before Tyagi returned to dismiss the dangerous batter. Mitchell Starc was run out by Angkrish Raghuvanshi, while Vipraj Nigam and Lungisani Ngidi remained unbeaten on 3 and 1 respectively, as DC struggled to 142/8 in their 20 overs.
“You can’t solve it in a complicated way. I think it’s more about applying the right mindset. Even if you lose one or two wickets, you can still spend time at the crease and play through it.”
“And when wickets are falling in clusters, you need to absorb the pressure for an over or two,” he explained.
Allen and Ajinkya Rahane opened the innings for KKR, getting off to a solid start before Rahane was dismissed in unfortunate fashion when Mitchell Starc deflected the ball with his leg onto the non-striker’s stumps. Angkrish Raghuvanshi also fell to a slice of bad luck, bowled after the ball looped over his head off an attempted sweep, giving DC a glimmer of hope.
Cameron Green then joined Allen and offered steady support as Allen brought up his first fifty of the season. The pair controlled the chase comfortably, never appearing under pressure. Allen shifted gears towards the end, sealing the win with a six that also brought up his hundred, while Green remained unbeaten on 33 off 27 balls.
Axar, who had to endure sliding down the table and with their qualification hopes dashed with the defeat, revealed that the side would look to navigate options going forward.
“We’ll go back and think about the mistakes we made. There’s still a long journey ahead and next year will come too,” he said.
“So we’ll think about what plans we can make for next year and what approach we should take.”
“Based on that, we can also look at the players sitting on the bench and decide who can be given opportunities and what changes we can make,” Patel concluded.
