DC’s spinners were at the receiving end of some blazing big-hitting from Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler and Washington Sundar to concede 97 runs in eight overs at an economy rate of 12.12. But one man refused to follow the same script – Gujarat Titans leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who threw a spanner in DC’s batting plans by picking 3-17 in four overs at an economy rate of 4.25 and shifted the game in his team's favour to eventually prevail by one run.

The signs of Rashid having a huge say in the game came in the fifth over of the power-play, when he beat KL Rahul on the outside edge with a leg-break spinning away sharply. But it was when DC crossed 100 in 9.4 overs that Rashid finally decided to have his say.

Nitish Rana miscued a googly from Rashid to a diving B Sai Sudharsan running in from long-off, just after he managed to survive an lbw review. The most telling effect, though, came when Sameer Rizvi – DC’s saviour both of their successful chases - was bamboozled by a googly spinning in to castle him through the gate for a golden duck.

The Rizvi-Rashid match-up was one of the intriguing sub-plots in the clash and the leg-spinner prevailed in it in an emphatic fashion. Rashid would sign off from the night by foxing Axar Patel with yet another googly which gripped and spun away, as the batter sliced to extra cover.

Each of Rashid's three scalps fell for single-digit scores and on the googly. The hallmark of Rashid's bowling has always been the ability to attack the stumps relentlessly, and not giving batters much room to break free. With the quicker pace he bowls, it becomes difficult to send the ball over boundary ropes, which Rana, Rizvi and Axar realised.

IPL 2026 has been witness to Rashid being back to his best self after getting only ten and nine wickets in last two seasons, apart from the economy rate having an alarming spike. Rashid being taken apart frequently by batters in the last two years had a lot to do with him pushing through the pain to play the 2023 ODI World Cup and later underwent a back surgery that would rule him out until early 2024.

"I was told to get a back surgery after IPL 2023, but after that season, the doctor told me, ‘You need a surgery, you can't just keep playing with that.’ But then, we had the 2023 ODI World Cup and I told him ‘I wanna play this World Cup.’

“I think I pushed myself a lot in that World Cup and after that, it was really bad - even I was not able to walk after the tournament. But that’s where I had the surgery and after the surgery, I was very, very careful with my back,” Rashid later said in the post-match press conference.

Though the surgery repaired the structural damage, Rashid’s pace dropped, lengths became wayward and the zip - so essential for his ability to hurry batters and deny them room – went missing. “That affected my bowling action, the release and everything. So, I was trying to be careful, but with that, I missed a little bit of my rhythm. I was trying to bowl slow for 2-3-4 months, where I was not in that shape, like, before the surgery.

"After having a bad season (in 2025) I thought, 'okay, what's wrong now? Where I'm, what's the thing I'm missing? I felt like it was the whole rhythm, from starting to the finishing. What it was not allowing me was that there was a bit of pain in the back still. I was scared of, like, what's gonna happen if I push it again?”

Giving himself time off after IPL 2025 to solely work on his fitness came as a big blessing for Rashid. “So, I worked on my core and tried my best to make it as strong as possible and then go on with full energy. When I had a couple of three good months off, I had a good hundred competition in the UK.

“So since that, things got started again. But more importantly, I try my best to just work on my fitness. That's something which I can improve and that allows my body to bowl with full rhythm.”

The data from Wednesday’s game throws light on how Rashid was at his best self - of the 24 balls Rashid bowled, 11 landed on a good length – yielding him two wickets at an economy of just 2.18. Even when he dropped short, it was more pitched on the back-of-the-length area. Where once Rashid may have loaded up with variations, he stuck to his basics and dished out a masterclass in it.

“Sometimes you think far ahead of the things which are not going to happen soon. If you're batting, you think about your bowling and that's something which is like you're putting an extra pressure on yourself already. For me, it's like there will be a time when you get a good wicket or a bad wicket to bowl on, and a flat wicket.

“But the more important thing is, when you're conceding runs on those wickets, you have to see your line and length. That's something which is more important than anything else you think about it. I feel, in the last two games, I think I bowled well, but where I conceded runs, it was just, like, the length I have missed. I shouldn't really think about, like, okay, what's the result, but the result is like if I hit the right area, the right thing is going to happen.

“Sometimes you think far ahead of the things which are not going to happen soon. If you're batting, you think about your bowling and that's something which is like you're putting an extra pressure on yourself already. For me, it's like there will be a time when you get a good wicket or a bad wicket to bowl on, and a flat wicket.

The scorecard will draw the fans' eyes to the fifties made by batters from both teams. But those who watched the game closely know whose four overs really set up GT's first win of IPL 2026. On a night built for a batting spectacle, the difference between winning and losing was, in the end, the distance between everyone else and Rashid sticking to his basics.