Nothing is going right for the Delhi Capitals, and a loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday night sealed the inevitable. The Axar Patel-led side is all but out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 playoffs race, and the franchise will now have to play for pride in the remaining three matches. The entire tournament has been marred by some questionable tactics by the Delhi management, and no one really knows what the thought process has been in keeping someone like David Miller on the bench.
However, the biggest talking point has been Prithvi Shaw‘s constant exile from the competition. The U19 World Cup-winning captain is yet to get a game in the IPL 2026 season. Pathum Nissanka has been opening the batting alongside KL Rahul, and in the one game in which the Sri Lanka batter was dropped, the Delhi management brought in Sahil Parakh ahead of Shaw.
Former India spinner Murali Kartik wasn’t able to make sense of the move, questioning the rationale behind keeping Shaw on the bench, despite his ability and skill set.
“If you had Prithvi Shaw, okay, he was in the wilderness in the last two years. You brought him back; you picked him in the auction on the basis of some logic. You have not looked at him. If you pick him at the top, it opens up options for you,” said Kartik on Cricbuzz.
“You have got a gun opener. He’s there for a reason. You are looking at everybody except Prithvi Shaw.
Speaking of Shaw, he went unsold in the IPL auction ahead of the 2025 season, but he was picked up by the Delhi franchise before the 2026 edition for his base price of INR 75 lakh. The franchise has been posting several training videos of him, but no one has come out in the open to reveal why exactly Shaw isn’t getting a chance.
What happened in the DC-KKR match?
In the game between Delhi and Kolkata, the former batted first and posted 142/8 in the allotted twenty overs. Nissanka hit a half-century, and at one stage, it seemed that the franchise would post in excess of 180. However, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy and Anukul Roy applied a chokehold in the middle overs, and Delhi was restricted to below 145.
KKR then chased the total down with eight wickets in hand and 34 balls to spare as Finn Allen hit his maiden IPL century. In the end, Allen and Cameron Green remained unbeaten on 100 and 33 respectively.
