New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) Mumbai Indians (MI) pacer Deepak Chahar admitted the toss played a decisive role after suffering a six-wicket loss to Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2026, saying the side ended up 10-15 runs short with the bat on a slow black soil pitch which later became better to bat under lights at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

Suryakumar Yadav captained MI in place of an unwell Hardik Pandya and top-scored with 51 off 36 balls. But barring him, most of the other MI struggled to play their shots as they posted 162/6. Chahar himself found help from the pitch in power-play and even took out KL Rahul, but Sameer Rizvi’s 90 took DC over the line with 11 balls to spare.

“I think the pitch was really slow and the toss was crucial. I think there was a bit of moisture there. They were slow to start, and you could feel the moisture. The toss was very crucial at that time, and that’s why we were 10-15 runs short,” Chahar said in the post-match press conference.

He explained how conditions improved for batting in the second innings. “The pitch got a bit better. When the pitch is dry, it’s more difficult to bat in the second innings. When the pitch has moisture, it becomes better to bat in the second innings… I think it had a bit of moisture, and when it was sunny, and there was a bit of rolling at innings break, it got better to bat on.”

On skipper Hardik Pandya’s absence, Chahar said: “I think he (Hardik Pandya) was sick. That’s why he couldn’t play. Probably and hopefully, he’ll play in the next game (against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on Tuesday).”

Chahar credited Sameer Rizvi’s knock for tilting the contest. “Yes, we gave it a good shot because defending 160 in an afternoon game is really difficult. Rizvi played really well. If we had got him out early around the ten-over phase, the match would have been very interesting.”

He elaborated on the challenge of defending a modest total. “In T20, the wicket-taking deliveries in any format are risk-taking deliveries… But when you’re defending 160, you can’t bowl such a wicket-taking ball.

“As a bowler, you think the more dot balls you throw, the more pressure the batsman will get. Consistently, they were able to hit boundaries. It’s not like we bowled badly because, as a bowler, we see that we were able to execute our plans.”

Chahar maintained MI executed their strategies, but were undone by a few overs, where they conceded big runs. “So we executed most of the plans. I think we played some good shots. When the score is 160, and if one or two big overs come in, the other team moves forward.”

–IANS

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