Delhi Capitals found themselves in trouble early in their chase when Jake-Fraser McGurk chipped a ball straight to short-cover to depart for a golden duck while looking to chase down Mumbai Indians’ total of 205/5, in their first home game of the season at Arun Jaitley Stadium. With Faf du Plessis also absent due to injury and the usual number three Abhishek Porel deputizing as opener, the expectation was for KL Rahul to come out to bat — especially after his heroics in the previous game against Royal Challengers bangalore — with Sameer Rizvi to follow as impact sub as has been the case previously. However, the hosts sprung a surprise on the five-time champions by sending Karun Nair out to bat instead as their 12th man, and the move turned out to be a maseterclass.
The Vidarbha batter, fresh off a stellar first-class season and a record breaking Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign where he was dismissed just twice while piling up 779 runs, signalled his intentions early by punishing Trent Boult for three boundaries in the second over and then adding one more to his tally against Deepak Chahar the very next over. Yet, all of it paled in comparison to what the visitors’ spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was about to endure in the final over of the powerplay.
The Indian quick had already been hit for two fours by Nair in his first-time around yet Nair managed to somehow up the gears even further. He began the sixth over by whipping Bumrah off his legs for a 83-metre six, a shot that induced Bumrah into missing an attempted yorker two balls later and the bowler paid the price with another boundary through point. However, the shot of the innings arrived on the fifth ball when Nair read a slower ball to perfection, created room for himself, and launched the Kookaburra over the cover region for another mammoth six. To add salt to injury, Nair found some free real estate again on the next ball to take the over’s total to 20 and his own score to 50 off 22 balls — making it his first IPL half-century in seven years.
Twitterati was quick to get their receipts out from all the times they pleaded the management to give Nair a chance.
— KK meneon (@KMeneon2594) April 13, 2025
Fifty!
What a Player!
Fifty after 7 years for Karun Nair 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0SYxCx62Z2
— RCBIANS OFFICIAL (@RcbianOfficial) April 13, 2025
What a comeback of Karun Nair. A tight slap on those who once tried to destroy his career #DCvsMI
— Sudip Dey 🇮🇳 🇦🇪 (@sudip_isbm) April 13, 2025
Unstoppable!
expensive!
4,1,0,6,0,4,0,6,2 BY KARUN NAIR VS JASPRIT BUMRAH
— Indian Cricket Fc (@Jonathan_fcc) April 13, 2025
Karun Nair decodes Bumrah..!!@IPL @BCCI @karun126 @Jaspritbumrah93 #MIvsDC
— Arun (@arun_ka) April 13, 2025
Fifty!
On fire!
Karun Nair 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🥵
— Am’ball’i Rayudu 🤡 (@am_ball_rayudu) April 13, 2025
Karun Nair.🫡🤐#DCvMI
— gautam anil kunneth (test cricket edition❤️) (@kunneth_1508) April 13, 2025
