DC opt to bowl; no Mayank Yadav for LSG

Axar Patel becomes the first away captain to win a toss this season

Toss Delhi Capitals chose to bowl vs Lucknow Super Giants

Delhi Capitals (DC) have opted to bowl first in their first match of IPL 2026, against Lucknow Super Giants at Ekana. DC captain Axar Patel, who became the first away captain to win a toss this season, expected some early help for the fast bowlers on a red-soil surface.

DC named an XI with four players making their franchise debut: Pathum Nissanka, David Miller - who played for LSG last season - and Lungi Ngidi make up three of the four overseas players, while Nitish Rana plays for his hometown franchise for the first time.

Jammu & Kashmir seamer Auqib Nabi does not start for DC, though he is on the Impact Player bench. Given DC are bowling first, though, he seems unlikely to get a game, with Karun Nair and Ashutosh Sharma the two batters likeliest to make an appearance.

Anrich Nortje, who spent five seasons at DC before playing for KKR last year, makes his debut for LSG. The other three are their usual top-order engine room of Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran.

There was no room for the express quick Mayank Yadav in LSG's XI or subs bench, a day after head coach Justin Langer confirmed he was fit to play. Mohammed Shami, Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav and Nortje make up the pace attack. Mukul Choudhary, the Rajasthan keeper-batter who according to Langer has the potential to be the "scariest No. 6 or No. 7 batter in India", makes his IPL debut.

Mystery spinner Digvesh Rathi is a likely option to come off the subs bench for LSG.

Lucknow Super Giants: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Mitchell Marsh, 3 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 4 Ayush Badoni, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Mukul Choudhary, 8 Mohsin Khan, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Prince Yadav.

Impact subs bench: Digvesh Rathi, Avesh Khan, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akshat Raghuvanshi.

Delhi Capitals: 1 KL Rahul (wk), 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Vipraj Nigam, 5 Axar Patel (capt), 6 David Miller, 7 Tristan Stubbs, 8 Lungi Ngidi, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 T Natarajan, 11 Mukesh Kumar.

Impact subs bench: Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair.