Wriddhiman Saha and David Miller are back while David Warner misses out as Delhi Capitals have won the toss and elected to bowl first against Gujarat Titans in match 32 of IPL 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday evening.
GT and DC are placed at sixth and ninth positions respectively in the points table. GT, the 2022 IPL champions, are leading DC 2-1 in the head-to-head record. The match will be played on pitch number four in the stadium, made of 100% black soil, with dew being a likely factor. This pitch is being used for playing in IPL 2024 for the first time and there is an expectation of ball coming nicely onto the bat.
For DC, Warner is unavailable for Wednesday’s match after hurting his left finger while batting in their win over Lucknow Super Giants last week. He’s replaced by seam-bowling all-rounder Sumit Kumar in the playing eleven, with young Jake Fraser-McGurk, who made a stunning 55 on IPL debut against LSG, slotted to open the batting alongside Prithvi Shaw.
“It’s an unknown wicket, our batting is strong and we would want to chase, there could be some dew in the second innings as well. We’ll have to play good cricket, just taking one match at a time. Death bowling has been a little concern, but at the same time, the bowlers are getting better with every match. We’re looking at gaining some momentum,” said DC skipper Rishabh Pant.
The news of Saha and Miller being back in action is great for GT, as the duo missed the last few matches due to injuries. GT also have fast-bowler Sandeep Warrier coming in for veteran pacer Umesh Yadav.
Interestingly, GT captain Shubman Gill said there was no dew at the ground last night and is expecting for the same to happen in the match, though he admitted of thinking to bowl first as well.
“We have been playing some good cricket even in the matches that we lost, just couldn’t nail the big moments. Magnificent stadium, we’ll get some excellent support,” he said.
Playing XIs
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Tristan Stubbs, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (captain & wicketkeeper), Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed
Substitutes: Abishek Porel, Lizaad Williams, Kumar Kushagra, Praveen Dubey and Lalit Yadav
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (captain), Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Sai Sudharsan, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Spencer Johnson and Sandeep Warrier
Substitutes: Sharath BR, Manav Suthar, Shahrukh Khan, R Sai Kishore and Darshan Nalkande