Former Indian opener Abhinav Mukund has showered praise on Sameer Rizvi ahead of Delhi Capitals’ match against Gujarat Titans. Mukund said many cricket boffins thought Rizvi would not start for DC in the initial phase of IPL 2026.
Chasing 163 runs for the win, Rizvi, who was used as an Impact Player, scored a brilliant knock of 90 runs off 51 balls against Mumbai Indians in the last game.
The right-hander scored seven fours and as many sixes in his match-winning knock. The youngster was awarded Player of the Match for his superb knock.
Rizvi had also scored a match-winning knock of 70 runs off 47 balls in the opening clash against Lucknow Super Giants. Thus, the uncapped Indian batter has bagged two Player of the Match awards in two games so far.
DC were reduced to 7-2 after losing early wickets of KL Rahul and Nitish Rana against MI, but Rizvi was able to steady the ship with Pathum Nissanka.
Mukund said on ESPN Cricinfo, “When we used to preview, a lot of people thought he (Sameer Rizvi) wouldn’t play, but DC backed him very well, and what I liked was that even in the first match he was zero off eight balls, and in the last game he was 10 off 10 or something like that.
“The way he paced his chase was excellent, hats off to him, because he’s a young player, and you have experienced players behind him like Stubbs, Miller, and many others, and above him KL Rahul and Axar Patel, yet he still took responsibility and decided, as a young player, ‘I will win the match.’ That really impressed me,” he added.
The former Tamil Nadu batter backed the youngster to continue his purple patch in the ongoing season.
“And this is very important for a growing player. I don’t know if he will be the Player of the Match, but I feel the runs will come because he has understood his tempo, what his game is, and what his idea is. Even after that match, he was saying that when he played for CSK, he didn’t have so much idea and batted lower down the order. Now he has come as a fully developed player.”
DC will host GT at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on Wednesday.
