Axar’s 100th match

Axar Patel marked his 100th match for Delhi Capitals by winning the toss in Hyderabad and sending Sunrisers Hyderabad in to bat first. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) The Indian Premier League game was Match 31 of the 2026 season at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Tuesday, April 21, and Delhi made one change by bringing Nitish Rana back into the XI. (thehindu.com) ESPN’s scorecard listed Delhi’s XI as Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul, Sameer Rizvi, Nitish Rana, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, David Miller, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan and Lungi Ngidi. (espn.com) Sunrisers also changed their side, with Harsh Dubey added to the lineup, as both teams adjusted their balance for a night game in Hyderabad. (thehindu.com) Rana’s return gave Delhi another left-hand middle-order bat and an extra spin option, and the live score feed showed Axar using him inside the first powerplay. (hindustantimes.com) The match carried a second milestone chase for Delhi. KL Rahul came in needing 50 runs to move past Mahendra Singh Dhoni and become the sixth-highest run-scorer in Indian Premier League history. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) That list matters because Dhoni’s total was built across 278 Indian Premier League matches, while Rahul reached the mark with a much shorter, top-order career arc. (news18.com) By mid-innings, Delhi’s decision to bowl first had been tested hard: ESPN’s live scorecard showed Sunrisers at 222 for 2 after 19 overs, with Abhishek Sharma making a 47-ball hundred. (espn.com) So Axar’s 100th Delhi game opened with two pressure points at once — a captain’s call under fire and a chase that could move Rahul past one of the league’s longest-standing batting markers. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)