IPL 2026— In the close match played on Sunday at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi Capitals defeated Rajasthan Royals by five wickets. With this resounding victory, Delhi Capitals have kept alive their faint hopes of reaching the last four (playoffs) of the tournament. At the same time, this crushing defeat has made the journey ahead very difficult for Rajasthan Royals. Now Rajasthan will have to win both its remaining matches at any cost to get the playoff ticket and the future of the team will also depend on the net run rate.

IPL 2026: Delhi Capitals defeated Rajasthan Royals by 5 wickets, the race for playoffs was very exciting.

Deadly bowling by star bowler Mitchell Starc, Rajasthan bundled out for 193.

Delhi Capitals captain Akshar Patel won the toss and decided to bowl first. Rajasthan Royals, who came to bat, had a bad start and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal became the victim of Lungi Ngidi after scoring only 12 runs. After this, Vaibhav Suryavanshi (46 runs, 21 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (53 runs, 40 balls) took over the innings. Captain Riyan Parag also played a stormy inning of 51 runs in 26 balls.

At one time Rajasthan team was in a very strong position by scoring 140 runs for 2 wickets in 12 overs. After this, Delhi fast bowler Mitchell Starc turned the tide of the match. Starc bowled lethally in the 15th over and broke the back of Rajasthan by dismissing set batsmen Ryan Parag, Donovan Ferreira and Ravi Singh. Starc took 4 wickets for 40 runs. Among other Delhi bowlers, Madhav Tiwari took 2 wickets for 27 runs and Lungi Ngidi took 2 wickets for 24 runs, due to which Rajasthan Royals could score only 193 runs after losing 8 wickets in 20 overs.

The path became easier with the century partnership of KL Rahul and Abhishek Porel

The openers gave a great start to Delhi Capitals while chasing the challenging target of 194 runs. KL Rahul (56 runs, 42 balls) and Abhishek Porel (51 runs, 31 balls) made the match one-sided by making a quick partnership of 104 runs for the first wicket in just 10.1 overs. Delhi scored 72 runs in the first 6 overs of the powerplay without losing any wicket, which is their best powerplay score this season.

Captain Akshar Patel took charge after some early wickets fell in the middle order. Akshar played a match-winning inning of 34 not out with the help of 2 fours and 2 sixes in 18 balls. Delhi Capitals achieved the target by scoring 197 runs losing 5 wickets in 19.2 overs. For Rajasthan, Joffra Archer took 2 wickets for 35 runs and Brijesh Sharma took 2 wickets for 44 runs, but they could not save their team from defeat.

Captains’ statements after the match

“That one over from Mitchell Starc changed the direction of the match. We were moving towards a score of more than 210 at one time, but due to the middle order’s wobble, we fell behind by 20-30 runs. Delhi’s openers took full advantage of the powerplay. Now the next two matches are like knockouts for us.”

“It was a much-needed win in front of the fans on home ground. The bowlers made a brilliant comeback in the final overs, especially Starc’s spell was excellent. The opening partnership of Rahul and Porel brought the chase completely under our control. We will give all our strength till the last match.”