Axar Patel backed match-ups, part-timer Nitish Rana over his own strength and Delhi Capitals paid the price

Delhi Capitals' strategy to bowl four overs of Nitish Rana against Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head backfired big time as skipper Axar Patel failed to back his own strengths, leading to a crushing 47-run defeat for the team from the national capital on Tuesday.

SRH have now jumped to the third spot in the IPL 2026 points table with a fourth win in seven games, while DC are fifth, suffering their third defeat in six matches. The result , however, could have been different if Axar had backed his and the team's strengths.

Nitish Rana plan backfires for DC

Looking at heavy left-handed top-order of Sunrisers that includes Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and stand-in captain Ishan Kishan, Axar decided to drop pacer Aquib Nabi to play all-rounder Nitish Rana. Axar forgot that inspired spell by pacers like Jacob Duffy and Mohammed Shami against SRH openers and top-order had resulted into SRH's previous losses in IPL 2026.

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Axar wanted off-spinner Nitish Rana to do that job this time around, and while the Delhi cricketer started well by giving way just six runs, Axare overplayed his hand by bringing him back for the fifth over as Abhishek Sharma, who made 135 not out, clubbed him for two sixes and Travis Head smashed one maximum.

With SRH losing just two wickets, Rana was handed two more overs, conceding six sixes overall. His final bowling figures were 55/0 in four overs and an economy rate of 13.80.

Interestingly, Rana bowled all his deliveries to left-handed batters.

All in all, the off-spinner Rana was expected to strangle the left-handed batters but he ended up becoming a source of quick runs for them.

Axar, DC fail to back their own strengths

It was classic case of an IPL team backing the match-ups over their own strengths.

Axar had a record of giving away just six runs in eight balls versus Abhishek Sharma and dismissing the opener twice before the Tuesday game in Hyderabad, but he refused to back himself despite bowling regularly in powerplay for DC and India.

Axar eventually bowled just two overs, giving away 23 runs but also dismissed left-handed opener Travis Head.

Similarly match-winner Kuldeep Yadav was also given just two overs, and while he went for 30 runs in them, if you are playing a specialist spinner, who has the variations to turn a match upside down, you would ideally want to back him completely.

Delhi Capitals' Director of Cricket Venugopal Rao defended Axar after the match in the press conference as he said that moves like bowling Rana in T20 cricket are risky but have potential of delivering results.

"Ultimately, it comes down to what the captain feels on the field. It's easy to point fingers now and question why Nitish bowled four overs, but these are instant decisions. In this format, if a gamble works, it's hailed as a brilliant move. These things happen in T20 cricket," Rao said.

However, once Axar looks at the data, there's a good chance he would choose to back himself more in future games.