Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Axar Patel said that fielding lapses cost them dearly as they fell short by 23 runs against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
“I think we got off to a good start, but if we talk about the chase, after the power play, we lost two or three wickets in quick succession, which broke the momentum. I feel the difference in fielding was the game-changing moment for me. And if you look at it, whenever wickets fell, they fell in pairs, which made things very difficult. Wickets kept falling in clusters, and that led to a drop in momentum,” Axar Patel said during the post-match presentation.
He also stated that the bowlers did well to restrict the total to around 215, but also said dropped catches undermined the chase.
“I think the batsmen did a decent job, but overall, our fielding let us down, because if you look at it, chasing around 213-215 was pretty much possible. I would like to credit the bowlers; they did a very good job restricting the opposition to around 215-217. It was a very good batting wicket. But as I said, if we hadn’t dropped one or two catches in the field, the result could have been different. (Did the pitch slow down?) No, nothing really changed. I think it was tougher for them, maybe because of the dew, and they bowled pretty well,” Patel further added.
However, the five-time champions CSK registered their first win of the season, ending a six-match losing streak at Chepauk Stadium with a 23-run victory over the Capitals on Saturday as well. Sanju Samson smashed a stunning unbeaten century, whereas Jamie Overton claimed a four-wicket haul for CSK as well.
After the game, Jamie Overton said: “Yeah, very happy. Just finally get a win in front of our home crowd. It’s great playing here and, yeah, nice to give them the win. Yeah, it’s been really good. For a couple of games it hasn’t quite gone my way, obviously one over against Timmy David last week, just sort of ruined my figures a little bit, but these things happen in T20 cricket. But yeah, it’s been feeling good since probably December time in the Big Bash. I’ve been bowling some good gas and just trying to keep it going, really. I’m just trying to bend my back and hopefully get a few wickets.”
“I think it was just trying to hit the top of the stumps. I felt like it was a little bit tacky, some felt like it slid through, and then the next one sort of jumped up a little bit. So it was just trying to bring them forward and trying to reduce their cross-batted shots a little bit. (on his side) Yeah, it’s fine. It’s just a bit of cramp. It was quite hot out there for me. But yeah, I’ll be fine,” he concluded.
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