Karn Sharma played a key role in Mumbai Indians’ 12-run victory in the IPL 2025 game against Delhi Capitals on April 13 at Jaitley.

He highlighted that Karun Nair’s wicket broke Delhi Capitals’ momentum in Sunday’s clash. Batting first, MI set a huge target of 206, but Delhi made an impressive start scoring 113 for one after 10 overs with Karun Nair’s half-century.

Karn dismissed Abhishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, and KL Rahul after going wicketless in his first while Santner dismissed Karun Nair for 89 runs.

“At that time, the situation was like they were going 10-11 runs per over,” Karn Sharma said after the game. “So my role was just to take wickets in the middle overs, and the way they were batting, every wicket was important.”

“Obviously, KL Rahul is a big name and he had finished the game for them in the last match. But all the wickets were important for us at that time. After Karun got out, their momentum broke. And after that, we got two-three wickets quickly. That changed the game.”

“I have played a lot in Delhi, so I know how the ball will behave on this wicket,” Karn Sharma said. “But we didn’t expect dew because there was no dew in the first innings.

“When you get the ball replaced, the new ball has an upright seam, so it gives you purchase from the wicket. That helped us.”

Karun Nair who was playing his first game of the season, had come in as impact player during the second innings. Ashwani Kumar was another option for Piyush Chawla, former India leg spinner, felt MI went with Karn after seeing DC spinners getting help from the pitch.

“They (MI) were waiting because they must be thinking whether to go with Ashwani or with Karn,” Chawla said. “But I am sure they must have made up their mind looking at the first innings, the way Kuldeep (Yadav) and Vipraj (Nigam) bowled.”

“You have to give a lot of credit to Karn because it’s not easy when you come to a team after six-seven (five) games and then all of a sudden you get a chance in this kind of situation where the other team is going berserk.”

Mumbai Indians registered their second win in the season and will be playing their next game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 17 at Wankhede Stadium.