New Delhi, April 8 – Shubman Gill returned to lead the Gujarat Titans as Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel won the toss and opted to bowl first in Match 14 of the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
DC arrived for their first evening game at their home ground after winning consecutive matches, while GT, the 2022 IPL champions, aimed to get off to a good start in the points table. After winning the toss for the third consecutive time, Axar said that his playing eleven remained unchanged from their six-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians.
“We have been batting well in the last two matches, and this is a fresh wicket. It has been raining; there might be some moisture. Obviously, we try to analyze every possible match-up, and we aim to make it as difficult as possible for the batsmen to score.
“I don’t just rely on match-ups. Based on the wicket, if any bowler gives me a good opportunity, then I rotate him accordingly. So far, in two matches, it has been effective. I hope it continues,” he said.
Gill, meanwhile, said that his neck was “much better” after a muscle spasm led to him missing the game against the Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad, which GT lost by six runs. Gill, who said the muscle spasm was similar to the injury he sustained in the Kolkata Test against South Africa last year, said that he would have batted first anyway.
With Gill coming in, Kumar Kushagra was dropped from GT’s playing eleven. “If the weather remains like this, there will be no dew in the second innings. I mean, it’s all about assessing the conditions in the first couple of overs. I think we have been having some good opening partnerships with me and Sai (Sudharsan).
“So, hopefully, we have a good Power-play and then we can post some good totals. It’s all about performing well in that one game. Even in the last game, we came pretty close, losing by a small margin. It's just one player sticking around till the end, whether from the middle order or from the top order, and maybe today is the day,” he said.
Pitch number five is being used for Wednesday’s clash, which means the square boundaries are equidistant, while the straight boundary stands at 73m. Kevin Pietersen and Daren Ganga observed that there’s less grass cover on the pitch, and its lighter colors mean it may be a dry wicket, but still conducive for making big runs.
Playing XIs:
Delhi Capitals: KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Pathum Nissanka, Nitish Rana, Vipraj Nigam, Axar Patel (captain), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar
Impact substitutes: Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (captain), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wicket-keeper), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Ashok Sharma
Impact substitutes: Prasidh Krishna, Jason Holder, Manav Suthar, Jayant Yadav, Anuj Rawat