Karun Nair’s explosive IPL comeback in vain as MI end DC’s streak

Delhi Capitals squandered the chance to extend their unbeaten streak in IPL 2025 to five wins, but the wicket of comeback hero Karun Nair triggered a dramatic collapse of five wickets in six overs before a hat-trick of run-outs handed Mumbai Indians their second win in six matches. 

Chasing a target of 206 in their first home game this season, the Capitals were on course thanks to Nair’s 40-ball 90, but his dismissal to left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner triggered the hosts’ collapse to 193 all out, with the last three wickets all run-outs in a bizarre end to the match. 

This loss, coming after four successive victories, leaves DC at second place on the points table behind Gujarat Titans, who also have eight points but have played one match more. 

Nair’s return to an IPL 11 came after 1077 days, and his 22-ball half-century was his first in the league since 2018. A gap of 2520 days between IPL fifties now stands as the longest in the tournament’s 18-year history. He got his chance via Faf du Plessis’ absence and was brought in as the Impact Player for the chase, and marked his intentions immediately on arrival to the crease for the second ball once Jake Fraser-McGurk was out for a golden duck.

Nair’s takedown of MI spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was stunning. In nine balls bowled to Nair, Bumrah conceded 26 runs. The horse had bolted, and Nair proceeded to bat with a perfect blend of class and aggression – his shots on the offside were orthodox – to keep DC in the hunt. Nair added 119 for the second wicket with Abhishek Porel, who made 33, but a ball change during the chase brought MI right back into the game. 

Karn Sharma, the legspinner whom MI used as their Impact Player, grabbed three wickets for 36 runs in his four overs, while Santner had Nair bowled on 89 and then added Vipraj Nigam. 

It came down to 23 runs from 12 balls with three wickets remaining, but Ashutosh Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohit Sharma were run out off the last three deliveries of the 19th over. 

Earlier, Tilak Varma scored 59 off 33 balls to finally get a half-century in an MI win. Helped by handy knocks from Ryan Rickleton (41) and Suryakumar Yadav (40), the visiting team smoother over another failure from Rohit Sharma (18) to post 205 after Axar Patel won the toss and chose to field. 

To be honest, MI looked set for a bigger total before Kuldeep dismissed Rickleton and Surya, but Tilak’s innings and a valuable 38* off 17 balls from Naman Dhir ended up giving them a winning score.