Kamal Ghorui
DHARAMSHALA: For 15 overs, Punjab Kings had the game exactly where they wanted it. Delhi Capitals were bruised at 33/3, shaken again at 74/4 and chasing 211 on a challenging Dharamshala surface seemed like a mountain too high to climb. The crowd sensed the kill. Punjab’s quicks sensed collapse, and the match seemed to be moving only in one direction. Then Delhi started stealing overs. Not the loud, frantic kind of theft T20 cricket often produces, but the calculated kind. One boundary here, one over flipped there, one partnership dragging their belief back from the dead.By the time Punjab realised, Axar Patel had already smashed open the door and David Miller had the chase in his “arc”. The DC lower order turned into their accomplice. What followed was one of the most audacious chases of IPL 2026, as DC emerged victorious by three wickets with an over to spare.
Axar’s 56 off 30 balls changed the emotional temperature of the game. Punjab had reduced Delhi to survival mode but Axar dragged them back into the fight with pure force.Miller then did what Miller has done across T20 leagues for more than a decade. His 51 off 28 balls, studded with three fours and four sixes, gave Delhi the confidence and hope they desperately needed. But it was Delhi’s lower middle order that refused to cave in.Ashutosh Sharma arrived swinging, blasting 24 off just 10 balls with two fours and two sixes, before Madhav Tiwari delivered the perfect finishing subplot. Earlier in the evening, the young allrounder had picked up 2/40 to stop Punjab from reaching something even more intimidating. Then, under pressure that would test more young players, he struck an unbeaten 18 off eight balls that tilted the chase decisively Delhi’s way.And when Punjab still hoped for one final twist, Auqib Nabi ended it in two swings — a four and a six in his unbeaten 10 off two balls — sealing a three-wicket win.Earlier, on a Dharamshala surface that had just enough life to keep the seamers interested, Punjab Kings openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh decided the best form of negotiation was outright dismissal of risk. In the first three overs itself, the duo forced Delhi Capitals to abandon conventional plans, racing to 51 without loss and, in effect, setting the tone for everything that followed.Priyansh (56 off 33b; 2×4, 6×6) announced his intent with a pair of sixes that were less agricultural slog and more calculated in nature. Lungi Ngidi was treated similarly soon after. Two more sixes, another boundary and suddenly Delhi Capitals were reacting instead of planning at the HPCA Stadium on Monday evening.What stood out was not merely the aggression but the clarity. Priyansh, coming off two quiet outings, didn’t go into a shell despite the failures. There is something wonderfully uncomplicated about him at the moment. He sees length early, trusts his swing arc and does not overthink reputation. However, the knock wasn’t to come in a winning cause as Capitals stole the limelight.
