Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel won the toss and chose to bowl against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in an afternoon IPL encounter at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, with conditions described as hot and lively at Bengaluru’s venue.
Key takeaways
- Axar Patel opted to field first, keeping Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the role of batters.
- Axar pointed to Chinnaswamy offering help to teams chasing, citing the venue’s recent pattern in IPL 2026.
- Delhi made no changes from its previous match in Chennai on April 11, retaining Auqib Nabi despite a quiet debut.
- Royal Challengers also stuck with the same XI that beat Lucknow Super Giants, with Rasikh Salam Dar expected to be the impact substitute when they bowl.
- Virat Kohli sat out the bowling XI versus LSG and had also been unavailable during the match against Mumbai Indians due to knee soreness and illness.
Captain’s toss call and Chinnaswamy trend
Axar’s decision to bowl was welcomed by RCB counterpart Rajat Patidar, who said Bengaluru would have preferred to bat first. Axar, however, believed the surface at Chinnaswamy would continue to suit the chase. In IPL 2026, the chasing team has already won two of the three matches played at this ground. Earlier this month, RCB also chased successfully against Chennai Super Kings after beginning their innings with a first-innings total of 250 for 3.
Delhi Capitals XI unchanged; Auqib Nabi keeps his place
Delhi Capitals entered the contest without altering the team that played in Chennai on April 11, when they were beaten by Chennai Super Kings. That continuity meant Jammu & Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi kept his spot, despite having registered a low-impact outing on debut. In the previous match at Chepauk, Nabi delivered only two overs and finished wicketless, conceding 17 runs. With the bat, he added 4 runs from No. 8.
For this game, Nabi was named at No. 7 in Delhi’s bowling-first XI. The likely change for Delhi later in the day is Ashutosh Sharma coming in from the Impact Subs bench during their chase.
RCB XI unchanged; Rasikh poised as impact sub
Royal Challengers Bengaluru, meanwhile, maintained the same set-up from their earlier win over Lucknow Super Giants. Seamer Rasikh Salam Dar is expected to feature as the impact substitute, replacing one of the specialist batters when RCB is bowling.
It is still uncertain whether Virat Kohli—who appeared as an impact substitute for the first time in his career against LSG—will be pushed out of the XI role for this match, potentially making way for Rasikh.
Kohli availability and milestone at the venue
Kohli did not take part in RCB’s bowling-first XI against Lucknow Super Giants. He had also spent time off the field during RCB’s match against Mumbai Indians last Sunday. Later, Kohli explained that he had been dealing with soreness in his knee and had been unwell in the run-up to the LSG fixture on Wednesday.
Saturday’s game marked a special occasion for RCB as it was their 100th match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The milestone arrived exactly 19 years after they played their first match at the venue. With a win on the cards, RCB would move to the top of the points table.
Playing XIs and impact options
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Tim David, 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Suyash Sharma, 11 Josh Hazlewood
Impact Subs bench: Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal
Delhi Capitals: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Sameer Rizvi, 4 Axar Patel (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Auqib Nabi, 8 Lungi Ngidi, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 T Natarajan, 11 Mukesh Kumar
Impact Subs bench: Vipraj Nigam, Ashutosh Sharma, Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, Nitish Rana
