Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni
In the second clash of the IPL 2021 on Saturday, Delhi Capitals' newly-appointed skipper Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
It will be an exciting battle between the Curran brothers as Tom has been handed the debut cap by the Capitals along with Chris Woakes. Amit Mishra, playing his 100th game for the Delhi-based outfit, also received a special cap.
"We will bowl first. The wicket looks a bit soft. I will be a mix of youth and experience, have done a bit of captaincy in 2017, but my first IPL game. Four overseas players - Hetmyer, Stoinis, Woakes, Tom Curran. We aren't playing in Delhi, so think it's working fine," said Pant who will be up against his 'mentor' MS Dhoni.
For Chennai, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran and Dwayne Bravo will be the four overseas players. "We were also looking to bowl, it's slightly difficult to defend on this ground. Dew could be a factor, but it's cloudy today, so it might not be a factor. The combination looks good, some of the overseas players turned up late, some are in quarantine," said 'Thala' Dhoni.
Also Read: Live Cricket Score IPL 2021 Match 2, CSK vs DC: Follow Live Updates from Wankhede Stadium
After a lacklustre IPL season in the UAE, Dhoni will hope to turn things around this time. The three-time champions failed to qualify for the first time in IPL history as they ended up seventh on the points table in IPL 2020.
"I know Mum will be nervous tonight," said younger brother Sam on going up against Tom Curran.
"Very different to playing the last time here in India. The wickets are good and boundaries are smaller, so the scores will be higher than what it was last year in Dubai. I'm sure there will be a few sledges."
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes, Ravichandran Ashwin, Tom Curran, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan
