Delhi Capitals won the crucial toss against Rajasthan Royals and elected to bowl first in the ninth match of the Indian Premier League 2024 on Thursday.
Rishabh Pant made two changes to Delhi's playing eleven that lost against Punjab Kings in their first game this season. The star South African bowler Anrich Nortje and Indian pacer Mukesh Kumar replaced the injured duo of Shai Hope and Ishant Sharma for Delhi Capitals.
After winning the toss, Pant revealed a back spasm for Shai Hope and added that Ishant continues to recover from his ankle injury. Nortje, who missed the 2023 edition due to an injury, joined Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar to form an impressive pace attack against Rajasthan.
"We'll bowl first," Rishabh said. "The wicket looks fine and we want to use it, there might be some dew in the 2nd innings. Feels good to play 100 matches for the same franchise, but every game is important for me. Most of the concerns are regarding injury, but these are things you can't control. Two changes for us - Ishant hasn't recovered, and Shai Hope has a back spasm. Anrich Nortje and Mukesh Kumar come in."
Meanwhile, Riyag Parag remains the part of the Royals' playing eleven despite having the flu before the game. Rajasthan made no changes to their playing eleven that beat LSG in the opening game, leaving out new expensive signings Rovman Powell and Shubham Dubey on the bench once again.
"We would have bowled first, dew could come in the second innings," Samson said. "Both pitches have an even covering of grass, but the last match was an afternoon game. All the 10 teams are geared up and prepared well, we just need to follow the process and not think too much, then we will be fine. Same team for us."
Rajasthan Royals Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan
Delhi Capitals Playing XI: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Ricky Bhui, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar.
Rajasthan Royals impact players: RR Impact Subs list: Rovman Powell, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Shubham Dubey, Kuldeep Sen.
Delhi Capitals impact players: Abhishek Porel, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Pravin Dubey, Kumar Kushgara, Rasikh Dar.
