New Delhi, April 4 Mumbai Indians (MI) pacer Deepak Chahar admitted that the toss played a decisive role after suffering a 6-wicket loss to Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2026, saying that the team ended up 10-15 runs short with the bat on a slow, black soil pitch, which later became better to bat on under lights at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Suryakumar Yadav captained MI in place of the unwell Hardik Pandya and scored 51 off 36 balls. However, apart from him, most of the other MI batsmen struggled to play their shots as they posted 162/6. Chahar himself found some assistance from the pitch in the power-play and even dismissed KL Rahul, but Sameer Rizvi's 90 helped DC win by 11 runs.
“I think the pitch was really slow, and the toss was crucial. I think there was some moisture on the pitch. They started slowly, and you could feel the moisture. The toss was very important at that time, and that's why we were 10-15 runs short,” Chahar said in the post-match press conference.
He explained how the conditions improved for batting in the second innings. “The pitch got a bit better. It's more difficult to bat in the second innings when the pitch is wet. When the pitch has moisture, it becomes better to bat in the second innings… I think there was some moisture, and when it was sunny, and there was some rolling at the innings break, it got better to bat on.”
On Hardik Pandya's absence, Chahar said: "I think he was sick. That's why he couldn't play. Hopefully, he'll play in the next game (against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on Tuesday)."
Chahar credited Sameer Rizvi's innings for tilting the match. "Yes, we gave it a good try because defending 160 in an afternoon game is really difficult. Rizvi played very well. If we had dismissed him early around the ten-over phase, the match would have been very interesting."
He elaborated on the challenge of defending a modest total. "In T20, every delivery that takes a wicket is a risk-taking delivery… But when you're defending 160, you can't bowl such a wicket-taking ball.
"As a bowler, you think the more dot balls you bowl, the more pressure the batsman will feel. Consistently, they were able to hit boundaries. It's not like we bowled badly, because as a bowler, we see that we were able to execute our plans."
Chahar maintained that MI executed their strategies, but were undone by a few overs where they conceded big runs. "So we executed most of the plans. I think we played some good shots. When the score is 160, and if one or two big overs come, the other team moves forward."