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Sameer Rizvi arrives in the IPL to guide Delhi Capitals home in low-scoring chase

Published

5 months ago

2026/04/2

Priyan

Sameer Rizvi dominated the back-end of the innings [BCCI]

An unbeaten 70 from Sameer Rizvi proved decisive in a low-scoring contest in Lucknow, where Delhi Capitals (DC) became the first away team to win a match in IPL 2026. Coming in as Impact Player, Rizvi joined forces with Tristan Stubbs to haul DC out of trouble, after Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) had reduced them to 26 for 4 in a chase of 142.

That target proved far too small in the end, but for a while, it looked imposing as LSG’s fast bowlers swung the ball for an unusually extended length of time for a T20 contest. A red-soil surface, which seemed to quicken up in the second innings, offered seam movement too. Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav and Mohsin Khan kept tying DC’s batters in knots.

But the seamers couldn’t keep bowling forever, and the introduction of spin turned the match decisively. LSG bowled only 2.1 overs of spin, but they went for 35 runs, with Rizvi hitting four fours and two sixes in them. That included the winning hit off the first ball of the 18th over.

DC’s other heroes on the night were their bowlers, who kept LSG to a sub-par total on a surface that played differently in the two halves of the match. If it was quick and skiddy during the second innings, it was two-paced and grippy in the first. DC’s bowlers made excellent, collective use of it. The highlight of their performance was a dipping slower ball from Lungi Ngidi,, which comprehensively bowled the dangerous Nicholas Pooran: that moment alone may have been shaved 20 or 30 runs off the target DC eventually chased.

Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram were one of the best opening partnerships of IPL 2025, but LSG decided to mix things up to start the new season, with their captain Rishabh Pant walking out alongside Marsh.

Their association was short-lived, with a deflection off Mukesh Kumar’s hand turning what could have been the caught-and-bowled dismissal of Marsh into the run-out dismissal of Pant at the non-striker’s end in the third over.

That moment came in the middle of a skillful display from Mukesh, who moved the ball around, tied Marsh down by denying him width or anything short, and conceded just 17 runs in three powerplay overs.

Axar Patel came on right after Pant’s dismissal and bowled two powerplay overs himself; this surely wouldn’t have happened if LSG had sent in Pooran to replace the left-handed Pant. Instead, they sent in Markram, and Axar bowled him in his second over, beating an attempted cut with his skid and angle.

LSG lost a third wicket soon after the powerplay, with Ayush Badoni – who walked in ahead of Pooran at No. 4 – nicking off to T Natarajan. LSG were 49 for 3.

After Ngidi sneaked his slower ball through Pooran, Marsh continued to struggle for fluency. He got into the 30s with a slog-swept six off Kuldeep Yadav in the 10th over, but he was beaten in flight while attempting another big hit later in the over, and holed out for 35 off 28.

From there, LSG’s innings was a slow slide to an early finish, with the constant loss of wickets forcing them into a tactical compromise. Shahbaz Ahmed, the left-arm-spin-bowling allrounder, walked in as their Impact Player, and put on the longest partnership of the innings – 26 balls, producing 33 runs – with top-scorer Abdul Samad. While it helped extend the LSG innings, it meant there would be no role in the match for mystery spinner Digvesh Rathi.

LSG were bowled out with eight balls unused, with Ngidi finishing the innings with back-to-back slower-ball wickets in the 19th over.

One of the biggest factors behind LSG’s disappointing 2025 season was a spate of injuries to their fast bowlers. This time around, they began with all their quicks fit, and their resources stretched far enough for them to leave out Mayank Yadav.

The three Indian fast bowlers who played ahead of him all got the new ball to move prodigiously. Shami sent back KL Rahul first ball, caught at deep backward point off a wide outswinger, Mohsin produced seam movement and bounce to have Nitish Rana jabbing to slip, and Prince ripped out Pathum Nissanka and Axar Patel off back-to-back legal deliveries.

Those two wicket balls came in an over that also included three wides, and that was another measure of how much the ball was swinging, in its fifth over. It continued to swing right through the first 10 overs of DC’s chase.

The bowling and conditions put Rizvi – preferred as Impact Player over Karun Nair and Ashutosh Sharma – through the wringer initially. He took 10 balls to get off strike, and was on 5 off 13 when he played his first stroke of any confidence, a ramped six off an Anrich Nortje bouncer.

The smallness of DC’s target allowed Rizvi and Stubbs to just keep batting without needing to take risks. And they knew LSG would have to bowl spin at some point – and that they didn’t have their first-choice spinner, Rathi.

Shahbaz came on in the 10th over, and Rizvi took full control, helped by some poor bowling. Shahbaz strayed down the leg side twice and bowled one long-hop, and Rizvi hit all three balls for four. With 16 coming off that over, DC only needed 65 off the last 10.

Runs continued to come slowly off the fast bowlers – Mohsin, at one stage, had figures of 3-1-6-1 – but DC knew there would be more overs of spin to come. With 49 needed off the last seven overs, LSG brought on Markram, and again Rizvi took charge, launching him for a six down the ground before back-cutting him for four.

With only one possible way back into the game, LSG’s quicks became desperate for wickets. In response, Rizvi and Stubbs put away a series of short balls from Mohsin and Nortje in the 16th and 17th overs to all but seal the game. When Samad came on to bowl the 18th, DC only needed three runs.

Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 145 for 4 in 17.1 overs (Nitish Rana 15, Sameer Rizvi 70*, Tristan Stubbs 39*; Mohammed Shami 1-28, Prince Yadav 2-20, Mohsin Khan 1-19) beat Lucknow Super Giants 141 in 18.4 overs (Abdul Samad 36, Mitchell Marsh 35, Aiden Markram 11, Mukul Choudhary 14, Shabnaz Ahmed 15*; Lungi Ngidi 3-27, Axar Patel 1-17, Thangarasu Natarajan 3-29, Kuldeep Yadav 2-31) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

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ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi’ departs Colombo

Published

3 hours ago

2026/09/12

Priyan

The Italian Naval Vessel ‘ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi’ departed the Port of Colombo today, 12 September 2026, after completing a replenishment stop for logistics and services.

During the ship’s stay, the Commanding Officer of ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi, Captain Marco GUERRIERO, called on the Commander Western Naval Area, Rear Admiral Harsha De Silva, at the Western Naval Command Headquarters.

Members of the visiting crew also toured several tourist attractions across the Colombo area during their port call.

Latest News

Sri Lanka thwart Fatima Sana challenge to secure Asia Cup final spot

Published

11 hours ago

2026/09/12

Priyan

Chamudi Praboda took two wickets in the middle overs to dent Pakistan [Asian Cricket Council]

Sri Lanka survived an all-time all-round display from Fatima Sana to triumph over a spirited Pakistan and seal a second-straight Asia Cup final berth against India.

Sana, a rare Player of the Match from the losing side, struck 47 off 36 to drag Pakistan to 130 for 5, and then finished with figures of 4 for 38 – inclusive of two double-wicket overs – but Sri Lanka’s all-round excellence eventually overcame Sana’s bloody mindedness.

In their chase, Sri Lanka were reduced to 5 for 2, and then 33 for 4, but a match-defining partnership of 67 off 59 between Harshitha Samarawickrema (36 off 31) and Kavisha Dilhari (33 off 33) turned the tide in Sri Lanka’s favours.

Sana’s second double-wicket intervention saw the backs of both Samarawickrama and Dilhari, but Sri Lanka’s batting depth came to the fore as Nilakshi Silva and Kaushini Nuthyangana saw the game off with eight balls to spare.

As Sri Lanka’s players celebrated on the sidelines as Nilakshika ramped Sana for one final, definitive boundary, the Pakistan skipper was on her haunches, tears streaming down her face. It’s not been an uncommon sight with Sana, but it was yet another example of just how much of herself she had put into the game – just that in this instance, it was simply not enough.

Run-scoring hasn’t been easy in Dubai this Asia Cup, with spinners in particular thriving. And that narrative was not about to change as Sri Lanka put Pakistan into bat – even as the data suggested the team batting first had won nine of the previous 13 games at the venue.

It proved to be the right call as the tournament’s unlikely leading wicket-taker, Chamari Athapaththu, struck early once more, getting Shawaal Zulfiqar and Ayesha Zafar in each of her first two overs. Left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari meanwhile had removed Muneeba Ali in her first over as well. Seventeen-year-old left-arm spinner Chamudi Prabodha continued the pattern when she completely did an advancing Sadaf Shamas in the flight to have her stumped in the 10th over.

At the halfway point of the innings, Sri Lanka’s plan was going just as envisioned. Pakistan were reeling on 52 for 4 and they would need a minor miracle to post a respectable, if not challenging, target.

The calls for Sana to bat higher up the order seem to grow with every passing day, and when you watch innings like the one she produced on Friday it’s not hard to see why.

For her first six deliveries, she sought to get her eye in – even in a semifinal where her side had nearly lost half the batting – and played out six dot deliveries. With most other players, you might assume this would build pressure. But Sana is made of sterner stuff, a ball of self-belief and willpower.

The seventh ball she faced, she drilled four down through, hard to Chamudi’s left – the youngster perhaps saved some pain by not getting a hand on it. On her 10th she swept Dilhari for four, and then on her 11th she skipped out and launched a maximum over square leg.

And just like that Sana was on her way, and the momentum was shifting.

When Gull Feroza fell at the end of the 16th over, it wasn’t ideal. Feroza had clawed her way to a 32-ball 21, but with the death overs approaching Sana would have been hoping for Feroza to finally unleash. Sana however adjusted her plans and made the most of what was on offer; after a quiet 16th over, she managed a boundary in two of the final three overs, while Tuba Hasan also chipped in with a valuable 12 off 10 to push Pakistan to 130 for 5 with 78 runs coming off the final 10 overs.

An above waist-high no-ball, a first six of her career for Kaushini Nuthyangana, the equation suddenly down to 5 needed off 11. It was cruel irony that that moment had occurred off Sana’s bowling, because up until then she had been the almost solitary barrier between Sri Lanka and a second successive Asia Cup final.

She had removed two of Sri Lanka’s top three – including Athapaththu – in her first spell, and then returned late in the chase to get rid of the set pair of Samarawickrama and Dilhari. But in between Sri Lanka had done just about enough to get across the line in a hard-fought semi-final.

Losing four wickets inside the opening 10 overs is never ideal, and there would have been a time when Sri Lanka would have folded quite easily in such a scenario. But this Sri Lanka side is one with a growing belief that there will always be someone to step up.

Samarawickrama had been the one against Bangladesh, and here she was there again – this time flanked by the always involved Dilhari. With the required rate reaching about eight an over midway through the chase, the pair took to heart the words offered by coach Jamie Siddons during the drinks break and came out with a plan.

With boundaries in front of square not forthcoming, the pair looked behind. Two quick boundaries got the ball rolling, and the indefatigable pair also ran hard between the wickets.

It was a low target, and in that sense only a few good overs were required to keep the rate within touching distance, but Pakistan were bowling well. Sri Lanka however proved once again that they have the wherewithal to weather tough in-game situations and shift pressure back on to their opponents – a skill that will likely come very handy against India on Sunday.

Scores:
Sri Lanka Women 134 for 6 in 18.4 overs (Imesha Dulani 24, Harshitha Samarawickrama 36, Kavisha Dilhari 33, Nilakshika Silva 18*, Kaushini Nuthyangana 10*; Sadia Iqbal 1-21, Fatima Sana 4-38, Umm-e-Hani 1-19) beat Pakistan Women 130 for 5 in 20 overs (Shawal Zulfiqar 24, Gull Feroza 21, Fatima Sana 47*, Tuba Hassan 12*; Sugandika Kumari 1-20, Chamari Athapaththu 2-24, Chamudi Praboda 2-25) by four wickets

[Cricinfo]