DC vs RR IPL 2026: Another playoff race twist, Mitchell Starc's 4-fer sinks RR to third loss in a row – Action in Images

DC stay alive and hanging on by a thread late into the season, while also making RR wonder what is going wrong as their fate also hangs in the balance late on.

Published on: May 18, 2026 12:30 AM IST

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1/8

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Published on May 18, 2026 12:30 AM

Delhi Capitals became the latest team in the bottom half of the table to complicate matters for those fighting in the playoffs. A season double over Rajasthan Royals, pulling off a 194-run chase to keep themselves alive in IPL 2026 while also making matters so much trickier for RR, whose playoff scenario grows complex as questions begin to bubble up. (ANI)

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RR started their innings extremely well despite the early wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi once again dominated the powerplay, especially towards the end as he took down the DC bowlers alongside Dhruv Jurel. (Hindustan Times)

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Things grew complicated in the middle overs as Madhav Tiwari removed Sooryavanshi, continuing his breakout spell at the end of the season playing his all-round role for DC. His bowling in particular impressing, as his hit-the-deck style proved tricky to play against. (Hindustan Times)

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Riyan Parag capitalised in the middle overs, a couple of furious overs of hitting helping him to a half-century on return. At one point, RR were on 160/2 after 14 overs, looking at a score close to 230 once again.  (PTI)

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But the turning point was Mitchell Starc coming back in the middle overs, removing Parag, Ferreira, and debutant Ravi Singh in the space of four balls to rock RR’s batting. From there, RR could only limp to 33/6 off the last 6 overs, leaving plenty of runs on the board and finishing on 193/8. (ANI)

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In response, it was a fast and furious start from Abishek Porel, staking his claim alongside KL Rahul at the top of the order. 72/0 after the powerplay in a 105-run opening stand, both players contributing half-centuries. (ANI)

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But as with RR, things got tricky for DC too in the middle overs as the scoring slowed and wickets fell. Parakh, Rahul, and Stubbs in quick succession, making DC fans fear for another failed chase late in the piece. (PTI)

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Axar Patel, regaining batting form late on, made sure that wasn’t the case. A couple of powerful hits from him kept DC’s noses ahead, before Ashutosh Sharma came into blaze a couple of sixes right at the end to take the points away from RR and give DC fans something to cheer in the last home game of the season.  (PTI)