Chasing 163 on a surface that wasn’t the easiest for stroke-play, Rizvi’s 51-ball 90 left an indelible impact as DC strolled to a six-wicket victory in 18.1 overs. He forged a 66-run alliance with Pathum Nissanka, and then combined with David Miller to add 78 runs for the fourth wicket.
The five-time champion can take solace from the fact that it wasn’t at full strength – Suryakumar Yadav was the stand-in skipper in the absence of an unwell Hardik Pandya.
Rizvi searched for fluency in the early part of his innings. But with Nissanka easy on the eye as ever whilst unleashing a flurry of boundaries, the Indian batter could afford to bide his time and reach 11 off 17 balls. After the Sri Lankan opener miscued a pull off Mitchell Santner in the 10th over, Rizvi duly took over with a raft of powerful strokes.
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Earlier, MI’s effort with the bat was off to a tepid start on a warm afternoon as Mukesh Kumar delivered two critical blows in the third over.
In view of the surprisingly slowish track, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar went about staging a recovery with a measured 53-run stand off 40 balls.
As skipper of India’s near-invincible T20 outfit, Suryakumar has harped on an ultra-aggressive outlook. But on this occasion, the 35-year-old was willing to pay heed to the conditions and drop anchor, taking 35 balls to raise the bat for his half-century. For MI to cash in towards the end, Suryakumar needed to ideally bat through. However, he fell leg-before to the wily Lungi Ngidi in the 16th over.
Published on Apr 04, 2026
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