IPL 2024: Nortje, Mukesh come in as DC win toss, elect to bowl first against RR in Pant’s 100th IPL game

Jaipur: Delhi Capitals have won the toss and elected to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals in match nine of IPL 2024 at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Thursday. So far, all eight matches in the tournament have been won by home teams. The match is also the 100th IPL outing for skipper Rishabh Pant for Delhi Capitals, a side he’s been a part of since 2016, making him the first player from the franchise to reach this landmark in the IPL.

On March 23, Pant made a return to competitive cricket action after a 14-month layoff due to injuries suffered in a car accident in December 2022 via DC’s tournament opener against Punjab Kings at Mullanpur near Mohali, which the side lost by four wickets.

After winning the toss, Pant said pacers Anrich Nortje and Mukesh Kumar come into the playing XI in place of Shai Hope, who has a back spasm, and Ishant Sharma, who hasn’t recovered yet from the ankle injury sustained while fielding in the match at Mullanpur.

“The wicket looks fine, and we want to use it, there might be some dew in the second innings. Feels good to play 100 matches for the same franchise, but every game is important for me. Most of the concerns are regarding injury (to other team members), but these are things you can’t control. We could’ve got the last game (against Punjab) if Ishant’s injury wasn’t there,” he said.

On the other hand, RR had a good start to the tournament by beating Lucknow Super Giants by 20 runs at home. Captain Sanju Samson said he too would have played bowled first due to the dew factor and added his team is unchanged from Sunday’s win over LSG.

“Both pitches have an even covering of grass, but the last match was an afternoon game. All the 10 teams are geared up and prepared well, we just need to follow the process and not think too much, and then we will be fine,” he said.

The pitch report by Simon Katich and Samuel Badree said square boundaries are at 67 metres, with 76-metre boundaries down the ground. They also said it is a rock-hard pitch, which has some cracks, indicating there could be low bounce on offer for bowlers with the new ball.

Playing XIs:

Delhi Capitals: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Ricky Bhui, Rishabh Pant (c, wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar

Substitutes: Abhishek Porel, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Pravin Dubey, Kumar Kushagra and Rasikh Dar

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c, wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma and Avesh Khan

Substitutes: Rovman Powell, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Shubham Dubey and Kuldeep Sen

–IANS