Delhi Capitals opt to bat vs Punjab Kings

Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Axar Patel won the toss and chose to bat against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on a 41-degree day in an afternoon fixture in Delhi. PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer said that the toss turned out to be “inconsequential” as he was looking to bowl first anyway.

Both teams were unchanged from their previous games. Australia’s pace ace Mitchell Starc has linked up with DC, but isn’t ready to play yet. He is hoping to be available for DC ahead of their game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on May 1. England allrounder Rehan Ahmed has also joined the DC squad as a replacement for his compatriot Rehan Ahmed.

For DC, seamer Auqib Nabi could come in as their Impact Player when they bowl, or they could lean towards legspinner Vipraj Nigam if the Delhi pitch, which Axar called dry, favours spin.

For PBKS, Nehal Wadhera is most likely player to slot in as the Impact Sub when they chase.

Delhi Capitals bat-first XI: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Sameer Rizvi, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 David Miller, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Axar Patel (capt), 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Lungi Ngidi, 10 T Natarajan, 11 Mukesh Kumar

Impact Sub bench: Vipraj Nigam, Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi

Punjab Kings bowl-first XI: 1 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 2 Priyansh Arya, 3 Cooper Connolly, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Shashank Singh, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Xavier Bartlett, 9 Vijaykumar Vyshak, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Sub bench: Nehal Wadhera, Harpreet Brar, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Vishnu Vinod