Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Axar Patel has been penalized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after the match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) during the IPL 2026 season. The left-arm spinner was fined Rs 12 lakh for the team’s slow over-rate at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala on Monday, May 11.
Delhi Capitals remain in the race for a place in the IPL 2026 playoffs after successfully chasing 211 runs against the Shreyas Iyer-led side. The Delhi-based franchise registered its fifth win of the season. DC moved up one place to seventh in the 10-team standings with 10 points from 12 group stage matches.
DC captain Akshar Patel fined Rs 12 lakh for team’s slow over rate
Axar Patel was fined after the team maintained a slow over rate during the match against Punjab Kings. The incident marks the first over-rate offense of the season by Delhi Capitals under the IPL code of conduct. The IPL issued a media advisory which read (via www.iplt20.com):
“Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Axar Patel has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate during Match No. 55 of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamshala.”
“Since this was his team’s first offense of the season under Article 2.22 of the IPL Code of Conduct, which deals with minimum over-rate offences, Axar Patel was fined Rs 12 lakh.”
DC completed the target of 211 runs in just 19 overs.
Delhi Capitals completed their second highest successful run chase in IPL history by achieving the target of 211 runs in just 19 overs against Punjab Kings. This defeat also extended Punjab Kings’ losing streak to four consecutive matches in the tournament.
Axar Patel won the toss and chose to bowl first. Punjab Kings got a strong start from Priyansh Arya, who scored 56 runs in 33 balls. Shreyas Iyer scored unbeaten 59 off 36 balls, helping Punjab Kings post 210/5 in 20 overs. Mitchell Starc and Madhav Tiwari took two wickets each for Delhi Capitals.
DC faced early trouble in chasing the target after losing three wickets inside the powerplay. However, Axar scored 56 runs in 30 balls, while David Miller contributed 51 runs in 28 balls. Madhav Tiwary also remained unbeaten on 18 runs from eight balls and won the Player of the Match award for his all-round performance.
We are a good team – Akshar Patel
The DC captain said that the team had been playing good cricket throughout the season but repeatedly failed to handle crucial moments in the matches. He expressed happiness after the victory and expressed hope that the team will continue to perform like this in future also.
After the match, Akshar said, “Since last time I have been saying that we are missing important moments. We are a good team, playing good cricket but not winning those important moments. Really happy with the way we played and hopefully we will continue to play like this.”
“We went to 60 in the first 3-4 overs and we took things back. The way Madhav and Mukesh bowled in the middle overs were the winning moments,” he said.
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