Delhi Capitals won the toss and opted to bat against Punjab Kings in an afternoon match in Delhi on a 41-degree day. DC captain Axar Patel’s decision meant PBKS would take the field first, and PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer played down the significance of the call, saying it was “inconsequential” since his team was prepared to bowl either way.
Pitch, toss and squad updates
Both sides made no changes to their starting line-ups from their previous outings. Mitchell Starc, the Australian pace spearhead, has joined the DC camp but is not yet ready to feature in this game; he is targeting availability for Delhi’s next match against Rajasthan Royals on May 1. DC also welcomed England all-rounder Rehan Ahmed into the squad as cover for Ben Duckett, who has been replaced.
With team selection shaped by conditions, DC are considering how best to deploy their Impact Player. Auqib Nabi is in contention to come in when DC bowl, while a tilt towards legspin is possible if the dry Delhi surface offers assistance to spin, with Vipraj Nigam the alternative option.
For Punjab Kings, Nehal Wadhera is the most likely Impact Player as they move into their chase.
Table position and team combinations
- Punjab Kings are top of the points table with 11 points from six matches and remain unbeaten this season.
- Delhi Capitals are placed sixth, having collected six points from their first six games.
Playing XIs and Impact options
Delhi Capitals
- 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
- 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
