The rival captains – Axar Patel of Delhi Capitals and Rishabh Pant (Lucknow Super Giants) – share a lighter moment ahead of the IPL match in Visakhapatnam.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak
Lucknow Super Giants finds itself in an undesirable and unfortunate position even before the beginning of its IPL campaign against Delhi Capitals at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA cricket stadium here on Monday.
It has lost four of its frontline Indian pacers – Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Akash Deep, and Mohsin Khan – to injuries. While there’s still hope for the first three to join the team later in the tournament, Mohsin has been ruled out and replaced by India all-rounder Shardul Thakur.
Meanwhile, head coach Justin Langer on Sunday expressed his excitement for the 27-year-old Uttar Pradesh (UP) pacer Prince Yadav and contended that the team has a good spin contingent, led by M. Siddharth. But whatever bowling unit the team fields on Monday, it will face a stiff challenge against the Capitals batters.
Capitals opener Jake Fraser-McGurk, who was hitting sixes against spinners at practice on Sunday, has to be defused as early as possible. K.L. Rahul, who wasn’t at practice on the eve of the match, is unlikely to play. Faf du Plessis might open with Fraser-McGurk.
For the Giants, Langer hinted that Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram are to open. A lot would depend on how its strong middle-order – which boasts of Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, and David Miller – fares against Capitals’ left-arm tweakers Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
Preparing for it, Nicholas Pooran was seen facing three left-arm spinners at the nets on Sunday.
Relatively, Capitals seems to be a well-rounded and stronger team on paper, especially with pacers Mitchell Starc, Mohit Sharma, and T. Natarajan in its ranks.
Published – March 23, 2025 09:11 pm IST