Axar Patel’s full-time tenure as Delhi Capitals (DC) captain got off to a thrilling start as his team snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on Monday, thanks to the heroics of lower-order batters Ashutosh Sharma and Vipraj Nigam .
Chasing 210 for a win in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opener at Visakhapatnam, DC were down and looked almost out at 113/6 in the 13th over, but things took a swift turn from there on as Nigam and Ashutosh scored 55 runs together in just 22 balls.
Debutant Nigam eventually got out after scoring a quick-fire 39 off 15, while Ashutosh completed the task and stayed not out on 66 from 31 balls .
Axar: ‘Things will be up and down at DC under my captaincy’
DC captain Axar was playful after witnessing a miraculous escape from his lower-order batters and hinted that more close matches are yet to come under his leadership.
“Be prepared for it now. It’s going to be like this only under my captaincy. Things will be up and down a little. Now that we have won, people won’t complain about why I gave that over to Stubbs,” he said while talking about the Tristan Stubbs over in which Nicholas Pooran smashed four consecutive sixes and a four.
He finished by acknowledging their mistakes and praising Nigam for a memorable debut. “Don’t remember the last time I saw something like this. The way they played in the first six overs, we felt we gave a few too many early on. We dropped some catches as well. It looked like they could score 240, but we pulled things back. We know how much potential he has (Vipraj Nigam).”
Impact Shorts
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Ashutosh, who also had an impactful season at Punjab Kings (PBKS) in IPL 2024, shared that the lessons he learnt from his past mistakes helped him to improve his finishing skills.
“Took the lessons from last year. Missed out on finishing the game on a couple of occasions in the previous season. The whole year I focussed and visualised about it. Had the belief that if I play till the last over, anything can happen,” Ashutosh said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
He also praised Vipraj for his valuable contribution and gave credit to former Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan for his mentorship.
“Well played to Vipraj. I asked him to keep hitting. He was very calm under pressure. Want to dedicate this award to my mentor Shikhar paaji.”