A covid-hit Delhi Capitals (DC) take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday (April 20). They will be without Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh as well as Tim Seifert, both of whom tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of their Indian Premier League (IPL) match. The Rishabh-Pant led side won the toss and chose to bowl against PBKS in the hopes of a revival after losing their last match against RCB.
Ahead of the team, DC head coach Ricky Ponting was optimistic about their chance despite the Covid setbacks, "Things have been a bit interrupted with Mitchell Marsh being down with Covid and our session yesterday was pushed back. We have to turn up with a positive attitude and we know we have to play well in this game."
Replacing Marsh in the team is Sarfaraz Khan. Speaking at the toss, Pant said, "It's an unfortunate thing, we are not going to think about it. We will find strength amongst ourselves. There were parts where we bowled and batted well. Sarfaraz comes in for Marsh."
Meanwhile, for PBKS, the return of skipper Mayank Agarwal will be a massive boost, while West Indian bowler Odean Smith has been dropped for Australian pacer Nathan Ellis.
"I am fine now, just getting some protection for the shoe. I am in, Ellis comes in for Odean Smith. It's more of a strategic change. We need to put up our best foot forward and play some good cricket. We have an opportunity to bat first and put up a big score on the board and defend it," the PBKS skipper said ahead of the match.
The Capitals are currently placed eighth in the points table, whereas Punjab are just above them in the 7th spot. A win for PBKS might take them into the top four due to their positive net run rate, and if the Capitals manage to win tonight, they'll jump to sixth on the points table.
DC Playing XI
Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant(c & wk), Rovman Powell, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Khaleel Ahmed
Punjab Kings Playing XI
Shikhar Dhawan(c), Jonny Bairstow, Mayank Agarwal, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Shahrukh Khan, Nathan Ellis, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Vaibhav Arora, Arshdeep Singh.
