It will be Axar Patel’s first season as full-time captain in the IPL. © BCCI/IPL With Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul having traded their jerseys ahead of this season, some know-how that would reside in the camps of Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants even as the respective squads have been shuffled. The coaching staff has also undergone a bit of an overhaul. Fresh ideas and fresh personnel are in, but old concerns remain – how to level up to be counted among the elites of the competition. Even before the season has started, the two teams are already hit with player unavailability concerns. Harry Brook has backed out of the tournament again, and a slew of Indian pacers that LSG had wisely invested in, are unfit to start the season. In some ways, given that Delhi Capitals and the injury-hit Lucknow Super Giants are now probably among the weakest teams on paper, there wouldn’t have been a more opportune time for them to come face-to-face with each other. Both teams failed to make the playoffs last season, but even with their depleted squad, they find themselves with an opportunity to mark a win early this year. That opportunity presents itself in Visakhapatnam, the coastal city which is now serving as the home ground of Capitals for two games. Acing the conditions here will again be paramount for Capitals to gain early momentum and set the tone for their IPL campaign. The last time they were here, Kolkata Knight Riders, the eventual tournament winners, had taken their bowlers to the cleaners. With a new set of pacers taking charge for the side this season, DC would instead hope to dish out a similar treatment to the inexperienced attack of their opponents this time. When: Monday, March 24, 2025, 7:30 PM IST Where: Delhi Capitals vs Lucknow Super Giants, Dr. YSR Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam What to expect: The last time an IPL game was played at this venue, Kolkata Knight Riders had plundered 272 runs. Given the impacted pace attack of LSG, DC have the opportunity to display their attacking chops in what could be a high-scoring encounter. Interestingly, both the IPL contests played at the venue were won by teams batting first. Head to Head: LSG lead 3 – 2. Both of Capitals’ wins came in the last season. Team Watch: Delhi Capitals: Injury/Unavailability: Harry Brook has pulled out of the IPL, which could potentially affect DC’s plans. But that also opens doors for them to strengthen their top order. Tactics & Matchups: LSG are likely to have three to four left-handers in their middle order, which could potentially dent Axar Patel’s effectiveness through the middle. However, that could also make the role of Kuldeep Yadav and the part-time offspin of Tristan Stubbs more handy. Probable XI: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, KL Rahul, Axar Patel © , Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan, (Impact Sub: Karun Nair/Mohit Sharma) Lucknow Super Giants: Injury/Unavailability: Shardul Thakur has come in as a replacement for Mohsin Khan, but LSG have been hit with a slew of injuries to their Indian pacers, with even Mayank Yadav, Akash Deep and Avesh Khan likely to be unavailable for the opening game. Tactics & Matchups: Axar Patel and Abhisek Porel are the only left-handers in the DC top-seven. That could give LSG spinners a bigger role to play in a side that is likely to be thin on their pace reserves. Probable XI: Arshin Kulkarni, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravi Bishnoi, Shamar Joseph (Impact Sub: Akash Singh/Shahbaz Ahmed/Manimaran Siddarth) Did you know? DC played two home games in Visakhapatnam in IPL 2024, winning one and losing the other. Both games at the venue were won by the side batting first Rishabh Pant last opened the batting in T20s in Nov 2022. In the IPL, he last opened in 2016 Since 2023, KL Rahul has the third lowest strike-rate among openers in IPL, and the second-lowest powerplay strike rate among openers. He could be pushed to the middle order this season. What they said:
