Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has taken Delhi Capitals to task after Prithvi Shaw and Abishek Porel were once again left out of the playing XI for IPL 2026. Pathan’s comments followed DC’s brutal top-order collapse against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday, a match the Capitals ultimately lost by nine wickets.
Delhi chose to bat and were quickly pulled apart in the Powerplay. After slipping to 8/6, the innings was effectively derailed by a rapid three-wicket spell delivered by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood. With the game moving away from them, Porel was brought in as an Impact Substitute, and he tried to build some resistance—adding 35 for the seventh wicket with David Miller, before contributing another 19 alongside Kyle Jamieson. Despite those efforts, DC were bowled out for 75.
Porel stood out as the most productive batter for his side, striking 30 off 33 deliveries. His stay at the crease ended in the 17th over when Hazlewood got him out, and that breakthrough finished the Capitals’ innings for good.
After the defeat, Pathan posted on X and questioned the Capitals’ selection approach, insisting that at least one of the two batters should be included in the starting lineup. He said, “We discussed Prithvi Shaw and Abishek Porel during our pre-show. Want to understand the thinking behind not playing at least one of them.”
Porel’s situation has been particularly stark—he has not played a single match prior to this game. In the previous two seasons, however, he had scored 327 and 301 runs, highlighting the gap between his recent contributions and his lack of opportunities this year. Shaw, meanwhile, was re-signed by DC a little over a year after the franchise released him because of poor form. Shaw went unsold in the last season, but his performances on the domestic circuit persuaded DC to bring him back, even though he has yet to make an appearance in the current campaign.
There was also a notable historical angle to DC’s collapse. In line with data shared by CricViz, Delhi became only the second team in IPL history to lose six wickets within the Powerplay in a match that was not affected by rain. The earlier example came in IPL 2011, when Kochi Tuskers Kerala slid to 29/6 against Deccan Chargers. Interestingly, both collapses occurred on April 27—adding another layer of coincidence to a difficult day for the Capitals.
