The franchise acquired him through last year's auction for 8.4 Cr which created high expectations about J&K pacer Auqib Nabi who made his first appearance with DC during IPL 2026. But his first match in the IPL he bowled only two overs while he gave up 17 runs through his delivery.
The DC management with skipper Axar Patel failed to use him for the entire game because they needed his bowling in a match where the team allowed 212 runs.
The best performance of the DC bowlers occurred when Sanju Samson reached his 115-run mark through 56 balls because Nabi maintained his best economy rate of 8.50 throughout the entire match. His 12 deliveries showed he maintained correct pitching patterns which resulted in two boundaries being given to Samson while Ruturaj Gaikwad showed he needed to be careful when facing him.
The debut match of a specialist bowler does not provide enough information about his abilities because he only bowled two overs. The situation might have changed if he had been given additional opportunities. The bowler achieved four dot balls from 12 total deliveries which demonstrated his capacity to challenge batters.
The match between Axar Patel and his opponent received more attention than his first professional match. Patel made the decision to shield the younger player because 'Chetta' controlled the match.
Nabi, who possesses the ability to swing the red ball in both directions, has achieved satisfactory T20 performance results. In his 34 T20 matches, he has achieved 43 wickets while maintaining his economy rate at 7.74. The poor performance of T Natarajan (13.50), Kuldeep Yadav (12), and Lungi Ngidi (10.20) has created an opportunity for Nabi to increase his responsibilities in future games.
The J&K cricketer proves his batting power through his List A cricket century which he achieved with a strike rate exceeding 110. The Chennai batting lineup received positive contributions from two players when Samson performed well and Ayush Mhatre scored 59 runs off 36 balls. Shivam Dube made his batting debut at a higher position and scored 20 runs off 10 balls.