Chasing 235 at the Wankhede, Delhi needed 125 runs off 8.1 overs with eight wickets in hand when Stubbs came out to bat. They had just lost set batter Prithvi Shaw for 66 and with a struggling Abishek Porel at the other end, they needed Stubbs to hit the fifth gear from ball one. Which is exactly what he did. The third ball Stubbs faced was slogged over the leg side for a six. The fifth, the same. In the blink of an eye, he was batting at 16 off five.

Stubbs’ first foray into the IPL was for Mumbai Indians in 2022. Across two seasons, however, he only got four games out of which he crossed five once. Picked up by Delhi Capitals at the IPL 2024 auction, he has finally made a mark with his clean striking. From five games, he averages 45.3 and strikes at 172.2, having bludgeoned ten sixes.

Against his former franchise, Stubbs kept his foot firmly on the accelerator for the entire duration he was out there. With the asking rate touching the high teens, he kept Delhi in the hunt, finding regular boundaries. He was especially harsh on Akash Madhwal in the 17th over, reverse-scooping, slogging, and driving him around the ground for three boundaries.

From 125 off 49 when Stubbs came at the crease, the equation was down to 55 off 12. Of the 70 runs that had been knocked off in 37 balls, 52 were scored by Stubbs, off 21. The remaining batters (along with extras) combined to add 18 off 16 in that time. If anybody was going to get those 55 runs, or even anything close to that, it had to be Stubbs.

The first two balls of the 19th over were smashed for two sixes. 43 off 10 looked nearly impossible, but as long as Stubbs was there, there was a glimmer of hope for DC. Strangely then, he ended up facing only two out of the last ten balls as Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Kumar Kushagra, and Jhye Richardson combined to add six off the other eight. DC fell short by 29 runs.

While it’s hard to blame the batter who finished unbeaten on 71 off 25 for the loss, it’s also hard to look past the sub-optimal strike management decisions that Stubbs and his teammates took in the last couple of overs.

The margins of both these defeats look relatively steep at first glance, and Stubbs has done plenty to underline his talent this tournament. But if the youngster had the foresight to hold the strike, especially with no in-form and reliable hitters at the other end, the margins could have been much narrower and maybe one, if not both of those results might have gone DC’s way as well. As it stands, DC have now lost four out of their five games and are at the bottom of the table.

The next time Stubbs finds himself in a similar situation, maybe he should back his abilities, of which he has plenty, and try taking matters into his own hands.