Hyderabad, April 21 (IANS) Playing his 100th game for the franchise, Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 31st match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Sunrisers Hyderabad made a single change as Auqib Nabi made way for Nitish Rana, while Ishan Kishan noted that the pitch looks slower than in the previous games. The side has also brought in Harsh Dubey and Dilshan Madushanka, replacing Praful Hinge and possibly Liam Livingstone as they adjust their combination for the conditions.

Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel said, “I am getting lucky in terms of the toss, but had we won all the games as well, then it would have been ideal. We are going to bowl first.”

On playing his 100th IPL match, Patel said, “Thank you, thank you so much. I was not aware of this milestone. I never thought that I would play 100 games for Delhi. It’s very nice to play your 100th match for a particular franchise and hope that we end the match on a winning note.”

“See, obviously, in order to keep the team balanced, you need to have a set XI and pick your XI according to the wicket. You need to have a flexible squad, and I always tell the same in the team meeting that everyone should contribute to the team. We try to select the best XI for the team.

“Yes, we have made one change. Auqib Nabi makes way for Nitish Rana,” he added.

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Ishan Kishan said, “Yeah! I think it is hard to decide, but I don’t think it is the same track we have played in the previous two matches. It all depends on how the wicket plays, and we play. We have a few changes. Madushanka comes in. Hinge might miss out. I am still not sure about it. Harsh Dubey comes in as well. We think the track might slow down a bit, and we need that wicket-taking option with the spin as well. They have been doing a very good job. It is all about execution. We will take one game at a time.”

Playing XIs:

Delhi Capitals: KL Rahul (wk), Pathum Nissanka, Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel (c), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Nitish Rana, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar

Impact substitutes: Karun Nair, Ashutosh Sharma, Tripurana Vijay, Dushmantha Chameera, Auqib Nabi

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (c), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora (wk), Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivang Kumar, Harsh Dubey, Sakib Hussain, Eshan Malinga

Impact substitutes: Smaran Ravichandran, Harshal Patel, Praful Hinge, Liam Livingstone, Dilshan Madushanka

–IANS

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