Delhi Capitals (DC) suffered their third defeat of the IPL 2026 on Tuesday. Led by Axar Patel, they went down against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 47 runs away from home. The DC bowling attack had no answers for Abhishek Sharma, who hammered an unbeaten 135 off just 68 deliveries to set a mammoth target of 243.
Delhi Capitals’ tactics for this SRH vs DC clash came under fire for multiple reasons, but mainly for the use of experienced spin duo Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. Former Delhi Capitals player and Australia’s T20 World Cup-winning captain, Aaron Finch did not hold back in his scathing criticism for the left-arm spin all-rounder.
Delhi Capitals brought back Nitish Rana for this game, keeping in mind the three left-handers in the SRH top order. Rana, a part-time off-spinner, was trusted to take the ball away from the likes of Abhishek, Travis Head, and Ishan Kishan. He bowled his full quota of overs, conceding 55 for no wickets. Axar and Kuldeep, on the other hand, bowled only two overs each.
Axar bagged 1 for 23 while Kuldeep went for 30 runs. Kuldeep hasn’t been in good form while the reason Axar didn’t bowl is the old ‘don’t bowl SLA to a left-hand batter’ cliche. Speaking on the ESPNcricinfo TimeOut, Finch did not mince his words, going as far as calling it an attitude problem.
“It’s the responsibility of your captain, your senior player, your retained player, your best bowler, Indian bowler, he’s one of your core bowlers in the Indian cricket team. That’s no small bit. He’s a double World Cup winner. So the fact that he doesn’t trust himself to execute under pressure and to defend himself against any left-handers – as soon as a left-hander walks to the crease, not for me today, thanks. To me that says more about his attitude towards it than anything else,” said Finch.
Aaron Finch was particularly baffled by this decision because Axar is one of the best defensive bowlers in the game with smarts. He has the skill set to vary his pace, lengths, and release points to outsmart the batter.
“He’s got a great defensive mindset with the ball in hand too. He’s not somebody that you know, if he’s under pressure, he’ll float one up in the slot. He defends himself. He changes angles. He uses his range, his height to his advantage as well. So even when you’re thinking defensive, that’s attacking against Abhishek Sharma when he’s in a mood like that. You bowl a couple of decent balls and you know that something will happen,” he added.
ALSO READ:
The DC skipper admitted in the post-match presentation that they could not execute their plans as a unit. Finch reacted to this saying, “I’m looking at those comments saying, well hang on, boss, you had the chance as well but you’re not willing to stand up at the moment either.”
The Capitals currently sit at fifth position on the table with six points from six games. Their next three games are against Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Rajasthan Royals – three of the most in-form teams in the season.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
