Dubai: In the 38th match of IPL 2020, Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and decided to bat against Kings XI Punjab here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. Daniel Sams from Australia has made his IPL debut, Shimron Hetmyer and Rishabh Pant have returned to the Delhi playing XI.
In KXIP XI, there is one change. James Neesham has been included in place of Chris Jordan.
After Sunday's epic victory in the Super Over double, Kings XI Punjab's campaign gained the momentum. Their victory over Mumbai Indians came in the back of their superb 8 wickets win against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Delhi have so far been the best team of the season with 7 wins and two losses.
In their last meeting, Delhi Capitals won in the Super Over after both teams finished on 157 for 8 in 20 overs.
When it comes to head to head record, DC and KXIP played 25 matches in IPL. KXIP lead the tally with 14 wins, while DC won 11.
KL Rahul: I would have wanted to bowl first. Mostly because we've done that in the last two games. The effort and character that the boys have shown in the nine games has been really great. We just did more of that in the last game and getting those two points was important. One change - Neesham comes in for Jordan.
Shreyas Iyer: We'll bat first. We have had a lot of success doing that. Need to maximise our powerplay and get to a good total. We had a dramatic game in our last encounter against them (KXIP), and they are also coming off a game with two Super Overs. We need to stick to our routines and come out all guns blazing. Players are returning from injuries. Three changes : Pant, Hetmyer and Sams come in.
Pitch report: "We had the MI-KXIP game at at the adjacent surface two days back. This one looks a bit fresher and there is just a bit of grass to hold the surface together. Captains winning the toss would like to bowl first to make use of these conditions. A total in the range of 170 could be competitive." reckons Simon Doull.
Teams:
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Daniel Sams, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Tushar Deshpande, Kagiso Rabada
Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, James Neesham, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh
