Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam [India], In the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel smiled as impact substitute Ashutosh Sharma saved the day and led the team to a slim one-wicket victory over the Lucknow Super Giants, avoiding some criticism of his on-field choices.

Axar’s choices in the first innings undoubtedly attracted attention from the audience in a match that was characterized by narrow margins in Visakhapatnam. Many people were taken aback by his choice to use Tristan Stubbs against Nicholas Pooran in the thirteenth over rather than spinner Kuldeep Yadav or a pacer.

Pooran scored 28 runs and made DC’s problems worse by smoking the ball into the stands on four consecutive deliveries. Since they were able to pull a rabbit out of the hat and win, Axar acknowledged that some of his leadership choices would not be questioned.

“Make it a habit to do things this way while I’m captain. This is also how my decision-making is a little erratic, so anything may happen. Anger [from fans] may sometimes also surface. “No one will say anything right now because we won,” he said at the post-match presentation.

As he reflected on the match, Axar was keen to point out that his team handed up runs lavishly and that their early struggles were caused by Sameer Rizvi’s missed catch of Pooran.

But by limiting LSG at the 210, which seemed certain to surpass the 250-run threshold, they gained confidence and momentum.

“I thought we let up too many runs based on the way they played the opening six overs. We also missed a catch. However, we effectively halted them in the last seven overs. We thus had the upper hand. You feel secure when you realize that 250 might have been manufactured but you stop them at 200. We all know our potential, and the players have been putting in a lot of effort,” he said.

The hosts were reeling at 65/5 and seemed to be down and out as they attempted to reach a 210-run target after LSG had shook the Capitals early. With his undefeated 66(31), Ashutosh Sharma came out of nowhere and upset the Super Giants.

Axar lavished appreciation on rookie Vipraj Nigam, who gave much-needed firepower with an aggressive 39(15) when Ashutosh was still shifting gears, while the 26-year-old took center stage.

“To bat in the first match in a pressure situation like this, credit goes to [Vipraj Nigam], and hopefully, they will continue to do well,” he said.