New Delhi: The 16th over of the chase at the Arun Jaitley Stadium turned into a moment of disbelief for Delhi Capitals. Fielding ace Karun Nair looked on with a shocked reaction, quickly followed by a wry smile, while Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer was also grinning. Delhi\u2019s Kuldeep Yadav, meanwhile, could only manage a frustrated smile as the chances slipped away.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the same over, Vipraj Nigam had been standing with hands on hips in frustration after failing to make an impact in the field. Nair was then seen shaking his head as he rushed in to collect a ball that had escaped his grasp.<\/p>\n
Across two separate deliveries, Nair had set himself behind the bowler\u2019s line\u2014at long-off and again at long-on\u2014and let two chances go.<\/p>\n
In the first instance, Iyer was on 28 and went looking for a big hit. He tried to swing through the turn, but the ball came off the leading edge and travelled comfortably toward Nair. The 34-year-old took a few steps forward, got his hands underneath it, yet couldn\u2019t secure the catch properly.<\/p>\n
Three balls later, with Iyer now on 35, he miscued a Kuldeep Yadav delivery. The ball again headed toward Nair, who came underneath it, only for it to hit the surface and fail to stick in his control.<\/p>\n
To make it even more painful, Nair had been a reliable presence just five balls earlier at long-off, where he was closer to the boundary rope and helped send Nehal Wadhera back after the batter was dismissed on 25.<\/p>\n
Iyer went on to finish the innings unbeaten on 71 off 36 balls, powered by three fours and seven sixes. The impact of those missed opportunities was stark: he went on to score 43 more runs than the time he had been dropped in the first instance, and 36 more after the second.<\/p>\n
Delhi captain Axar Patel\u2019s annoyance was clear during the post-match presentation. \u201cWe keep making the same mistakes again and again. If you don\u2019t back your bowlers on a wicket like this, I think you deserve to lose,\u201d he said, as PBKS reached 265 with seven balls still remaining\u2014registering the highest successful chase in IPL history and surpassing their own previous record in the process.<\/p>\n
Karun Nair was not the only player to have a difficult day in the field. For Punjab, Shashank Singh has struggled with consistency in his catching this season. He dropped three chances against the Lucknow Super Giants and added another to that list\u2014this time, with the batter he let off making him pay.<\/p>\n
Like Nair, the way the moment unfolded later in the day at the same venue followed a familiar pattern: tension as the ball travelled toward the fielder, followed by the shock when the chance became a near-miss.<\/p>\n
KL Rahul faced Arshdeep Singh and pulled a short delivery toward Shashank at square leg near the boundary. The shot had a flat-ish feel and seemed like it was in Shashank\u2019s range. But the execution of a reverse cup went wrong, and the expressions changed instantly\u2014Arshdeep\u2019s celebrations and finger-wagging quickly turned to surprise, while the Delhi Capitals supporter who had been tense switched from covering their face to dancing with relief. Rahul, on the other hand, looked up as if in prayer.<\/p>\n
The reprieve was needed again in the 10th over. Vijay Kumar Vyshak came in for his second spell, with Rahul having just moved past the 50-run mark. The outside-off delivery was chipped back quickly, Vyshak got down slightly on his follow-through, but couldn\u2019t hold on as the ball struck his shin and rolled away safely.<\/p>\n
Rahul then continued his assault and remained unbeaten on 152 from 67 balls, striking 16 boundaries and nine sixes. The knock also moved him to the top of the record books for the highest individual IPL score by an Indian, and it placed him third overall\u2014behind Chris Gayle\u2019s 175* and Brendon McCullum\u2019s 158*.<\/p>\n
There was plenty of arithmetic behind the storyline too. Rahul scored 140 more runs than the first time he was dropped, and 101 extra runs compared to the second let-off.<\/p>\n
Much attention will be given to PBKS\u2019 huge chase, sparked by their \u201csarpanch\u201d mentality and their refusal to surrender, as well as the sheer audacity of a team posting 264 and still finding a way to lose\u2014until those fielding slips changed everything. After 529 runs, 49 boundaries, and 33 sixes, it was the four dropped catches that ultimately tilted the contest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi: The 16th over of the chase at the Arun Jaitley Stadium turned into a moment of disbelief for Delhi Capitals. Fielding ace Karun…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL 2026: Karun Nair Moment as PBKS Stay Unbeaten","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Karun Nair\u2019s shocked grin lights up the chase as PBKS stay unbeaten in a tense finish\u2014relive the key 16th-over moment and momentum.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n