Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Axar Patel won the toss and opted to field against the Rishabh Pant-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their IPL season opener in Visakhapatnam on Monday.
Patel confirmed that Jake Fraser-McGurk and Tristan Stubbs will start, while Faf du Plessis and Mitchell Starc make their debuts for DC.
LSG named Aiden Markram, David Miller, Mitchell Marsh, and Nicholas Pooran as their four overseas players, with the South African duo making their debuts for the franchise, while Marsh, also debuting for LSG, faces his former team.
The match presents key subplots, with Pant facing his former team and former LSG skipper KL Rahul missing DC’s opener as he awaits the birth of his child.
Since entering the league in 2022, Lucknow holds a 3-2 head-to-head advantage over Delhi.
LSG’s pace attack is stretched thin, with Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav, and Akash Deep injured, while Mohsin Khan has been ruled out of the tournament. Shardul Thakur steps in to reinforce the depleted bowling unit.
Delhi Capitals: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel (wk), Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel (c), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar.
Lucknow Super Giants: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant (c), David Miller, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi.
