Former India opener Aakash Chopra slammed Suryakumar Yadav for his captaincy during Mumbai Indians’ IPL 2026 match against Delhi Capitals on Saturday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. In the absence of regular skipper Hardik Pandya, who missed the match due to illness, MI were led by Suryakumar. However, the five-time champions suffered a five-wicket defeat as Delhi Capitals chased down the target of 163 with 11 balls to spare. Sameer Rizvi was the star performer for DC, scoring a superb 90 off 51 balls.
After the match, Chopra criticised Suryakumar for failing to use pacer Deepak Chahar to his full potential, despite the bowler providing an early breakthrough. Chahar, who dismissed KL Rahul in the first over, was not allowed to complete his full quota of four overs.
Chopra also compared Suryakumar’s captaincy with that of Axar Patel and praised the Delhi Capitals skipper for his excellent utilisation of bowlers, which helped DC restrict MI to 162/6 in 20 overs.
“Axar Patel’s captaincy was absolutely outstanding. Mukesh Kumar took two wickets and was then taken off because there was an excellent match-up. After a left-hander was dismissed, Axar brought himself on immediately and then introduced Vipraj Nigam. He finished the powerplay with Lungi Ngidi and didn’t bring Mukesh back later as it wasn’t required. He was impeccable in the way he used his resources,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“The same cannot be said about Suryakumar Yadav or Mumbai Indians. Deepak Chahar had taken a wicket. He is a new-ball bowler, yet he was made to bowl only two overs. Stopping Mukesh after two overs was a good decision, but doing the same with Deepak was a poor call because there was no match-up. You should persist with Deepak Chahar-he isn’t particularly effective at the death anyway,” he added.
With this win, Delhi Capitals began their IPL 2026 campaign with two consecutive victories. Mumbai Indians, meanwhile, suffered their first defeat of the season after opening their campaign with a dominant win over Kolkata Knight Riders.
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