Prithvi Shaw went unsold for IPL 2025 after he was released by Delhi Capitals due to poor form.© BCCI
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has questioned Delhi Capitals over the repeated omissions of Prithvi Shaw and Abishek Porel from their playing XI in IPL 2026. Irfan’s remarks came following DC’s top-order collapse against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday, a game which they ended up losing by nine wickets. Opting to bat, DC were reduced to 8/6 after a three-wicket burst from both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood in the Powerplay. Porel, who came in as an Impact Substitute, added 35 for the seventh wicket with David Miller and 19 with Kyle Jamieson as DC were bowled out for 75.
Porel top-scored for his side, scoring 30 off 33 before being cleaned up by Hazlewood in the 17th over, with his dismissal marking the end of the DC innings.
Taking to X, Irfan slammed DC for not picking either Porel or Shaw in the playing XI, adding that one of them has to be in the starting team.
“We discussed Prithvi Shaw & Abishek Porel during our pre-show. Want to understand the thinking behind not playing at least one of them,” Pathan said.
We discussed during our pre show abt Prithvi Shaw & Abhishek Porel.
Want to understand the thinking of not to play one of them.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 27, 2026
Porel, who scored 327 and 301 runs in the past two seasons, had not played a single game prior to this one. Shaw, on the other hand, was re-signed by DC just over a year after being released due to poor form. Shaw went unsold last season, but his promising form on the domestic circuit convinced DC to bring him back, even though he is yet to feature this season.
As per CricViz, DC became just the second team in IPL history to lose six wickets inside the Powerplay in a non-rain-curtailed game. The only previous occurrence came in IPL 2011, when Kochi Tuskers Kerala slumped to 29/6 against Deccan Chargers. Coincidentally, both collapses happened on April 27.
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