Axar Patel won the toss and chose to bowl first as Delhi Capitals made a massive statement with five changes to their playing XI against Punjab Kings in Dharamsala. With their playoff hopes hanging by a thread after a poor run of results, DC appeared ready to shake things up in a must-win encounter.
Axar admitted the team had failed in key moments despite not playing "that badly" overall. "We will be bowling. That's the thing that's going right (winning the toss), in the matches, we haven't won those crucial moments, either with bat, ball or in the field, otherwise we haven't played that badly," Axar said at the toss. "We will play our brand of cricket and don't worry about the result. Win or lose, we'll look to play a good brand of cricket. It's a fresh wicket, the new ball might do a bit and we want to let them bat first. Five changes for us."
Punjab Kings, meanwhile, arrived in Dharamsala hoping a shift in venue could revive their fading momentum after three successive defeats dropped them into a tense playoff battle. Captain Shreyas Iyer said the team was trying to avoid overthinking the points table despite the pressure mounting. "Honestly, you can't tell a lot about the pitch until you play on it. Go out there and perform," Shreyas said. "We don't want to think too much about the points table, just focus on your ability and instincts - that's what we have not done well in the last few games, we haven't backed our instincts and do well under pressure."
PBKS also handed IPL debuts to Ben Dwarshuis, who replaced Lockie Ferguson after the New Zealand pacer picked up a slight niggle.
Playing XIs
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh (w), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Suryansh Shedge, Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Ben Dwarshuis, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): KL Rahul (w), Abishek Porel, Sahil Parakh, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Axar Patel (c), Madhav Tiwari, Mukesh Kumar, Auqib Nabi Dar, Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi
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