Abhishek produced a sensational knock to call Delhi's bluff with Nitish Rana (Courtesy: AP)

IPL Play of the Day: Abhishek Sharma bluffs Delhi into bowling 4 overs off Nitish Rana

SRH vs DC: Abhishek Sharma punished Delhi Capitals for the series of errors that they committed at the Uppal on Tuesday. Some smart batting from the young left-hander forced Delhi into committing a cardinal sin: bowling their part-timer for 4 full overs.

21 Apr 2026, 23:30 by Kingshuk Kusari · India Today

In Short

Abhishek Sharma scores second IPL hundred in 47 balls
SRH achieves biggest total of the season with 242/2
Nitish Rana's spin strategy backfires against Delhi Capitals

Axar Patel and Delhi Capitals had an awful outing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on April 21. Playing against SunRisers Hyderabad, Axar Patel's team got tactically outdone by a 25-year-old, who was simply looking to return to his best form on Tuesday.

SRH vs DC, IPL 2026: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD

It was all about Abhishek Sharma and his willingness to stay at the crease, which helped SRH bag their third straight win in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday. Abhishek outplayed, out-thought and outperformed the Delhi Capitals, scoring his second IPL hundred. Abhishek took 47 balls to reach his hundred, guiding SRH to their biggest total of the season so far - 242/2, which eventually helped the hosts beat DC by a big margin of 47 runs.

And for today's IPL Play of the Day, we feature a specific plan executed by Abhishek Sharma, which helped SRH beat DC at their own game on Tuesday.

Abhishek Sharma took apart the DC bowlers with ease (Courtesy: AP)

Before we get into what Abhishek Sharma did, we need to talk about the tactical approaches that teams take to limit swashbuckling batters. After all, T20 cricket is a game of bluff and double bluff. In Abhishek's case, the plan is simple. Bring in an off-spinner, give Abhishek absolutely no pace, and force him into a false shot.

We have seen this plan executed multiple times in the World Cup, so much so that poor Abhishek failed thrice in three back-to-back matches against the same plan. Pakistan discovered the method, Netherlands applied it, and South Africa perfected the plan.

So, it was no surprise that Delhi Capitals replaced fast bowler Auqib Nabi with all-rounder Nitish Rana in this match. Delhi are known for their spin-bowling prowess in the IPL, given the exceptional credentials of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. Add Nitish Rana in the mix, and you end up having variety in your bowling attack, which many would be envious of.

SRH vs DC: DELHI ATTACK ABHISHEK WITH SPIN

And hence, Delhi got to work, and introduced Nitish Rana in the second over of the match, turning the ball away from Abhishek Sharma, hoping to neutralise the batter.

The ploy worked and Rana frustrated Travishek with his slow-looping deliveries, occasionally bowling the odd arm ball. DC conceded only 6 runs in the second over.

Nitish bowled four overs during an IPL game for the second time in his career (Courtesy: AP)

The result had Axar Patel licking his lips, and he handed Rana one more over in the powerplay - the 5th over of the match.

What was the result?

Rana was clubbed. Absolutely clubbed. Three sixes off the over, two from Abhishek, one from Travis Head, conceding a total of 20 runs in the 5th over.

One would think that, by this time, Axar would drop the idea. He had already leaked 28 in 2 overs of Rana and just bowl himself and Kuldeep. But no. Axar and the Delhi think tank decided to bowl Nitish for the third over, this time outside of the powerplay (obviously).

Lo and behold, the plan worked. Abhishek did not try to attack Rana for the first half of the over, and ended up mistiming his final delivery. Rana went for just 6 runs in his third.

It was almost like telling someone they're getting a second serving of Hyderabadi biriyani and Axar was tempted. Against a set Abhishek Sharma, giving away just 6 runs was excellent. His plan, DC's plan, worked. The second over was just a glitch.

Axar eventually decided to hand Rana his fourth and final over of the match - in the 15th. And my god, was that a mistake!

You see, we here at India Today think that Abhishek Sharma bluffed Axar Patel into bowling the full four overs of Rana, by intentionally playing him for two soft overs.

SRH vs DC: ABHISHEK BLUFFS DELHI CAPITALS

Rana's final over, DC's 15th, cost the team 23 runs. If a straight drive from Abhishek would not have deflected off Rana's hand and gone on to hit the stumps to dismiss Kishan, the over would have cost more.

Abhishek hit Rana for three sixes and a four in that over, completing his hundred in 47 balls.

More importantly, bowling out Rana meant that Axar and Kuldeep bowled only 2 overs each, and let go of the 4 more that they could have bowled between themselves.

Rana finished with 4-0-55-0, his worst figures in the IPL, only because his captain got too greedy. Rana is a veteran of 10 years in the IPL, and it was only once before that he has bowled his full quota of 4 overs, back in 2023. Even as the former captain of KKR, he bowled himself for more than one over only once. But today, somehow, inexplicably, Axar trusted him with more.

Once the dust of the game settles in and Delhi Capitals look at the scoreboard, they will probably rethink the whole game.

Did they need more than that one over of Nitish Rana in the powerplay? Did they just get outplayed by a 25-year-old in the IPL?

As DC prepare for their home stretch over the course of the week, they need to take a long, hard look at themselves. This is the Indian Premier League, and not an amateur tournament. Whoever is strategising for the side needs to do better, because this sort of amateurish mistake is simply not done anymore.

- Ends