New Delhi: Following his match-winning spell for the five-time champion Mumbai Indians, for whom he was playing a game after a lengthy break of six to seven years, leg-spinner Karn Sharma expressed his happiness after bowling remarkably well in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 against Delhi Capitals (DC).

In a match when the odds were stacked against Mumbai, Karn was the star. MI won by 12 runs, their second victory of the season, and the veteran leg spinner returned with stats of 3/36.

“I’m thrilled to play for the Mumbai Indians once again after a six- or seven-year hiatus. I’m thrilled to continue where I left off. Taking wickets was the only topic of conversation with Hardik Pandya and the coaches. At ten to eleven runs per over, they were cruising. Therefore, it was critical that Santner and I contribute with significant wickets,” Karn Sharma said at the press conference held after the game.

“One way to describe the game-changing moment is the change of ball. Dew was soaking into the ancient ball. Santner and I were able to extract that ‘buy’ from the wicket with the new ball,” he said.

The 37-year-old player continued by saying that it is hard to predict whether you will be in the starting XI or 12. This is especially true in competitions like the Indian Premier League. You must wait for your opportunity and attempt to take advantage of it, he said.

“The IPL is one of those competitions where it’s impossible to anticipate whether you’ll make the starting lineup. You just need to have faith in yourself that you must execute whenever you get the opportunity, and ultimately, the team should prevail. There are two key points. They might have easily won the game with the manner in which they were hitting. “It’s a new day and a new opportunity” is my motto. That’s what I basically have to wait for,” the leg spinner said.

The spinner concluded by discussing the game’s turning moment and said that KL Rahul’s wicket was “pivotal” because of his outstanding performance against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (93* runs off 53 balls), which put DC ahead in the run chase. Before Karun Nair’s wicket, we were a little under pressure, and then two or three wickets fell quickly after that.

KL Rahul was then sent out, and we immediately resumed play. Karn came to the conclusion that KL Rahul’s wicket was crucial because of his strong performance in the previous game [against RCB].

The five-time champions, MI, will now turn their attention to their next matchup against struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday after the Hardik Pandya-led team stopped DC’s four-match winning run.