Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer share a laugh•BCCI
Delhi Capitals opt to bat vs Punjab Kings
Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel won the toss and chose to bat against Punjab Kings 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.
Both teams were unchanged from their previous games. Australia’s pace ace Mitchell Starc has linked up with the DC side, 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 Ben Duckett. 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 the likeliest player to slot in as the Impact Sub when they chase. PBKS are riding on a five-match unbeaten streak, just two shy of their best run across 2013-14.
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(w), 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
