Chennai, April 11 (IANS) Pacer Auqib Nabi Dar, the leading wicket-taker in the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy win for Jammu and Kashmir, has been handed his IPL debut cap as Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings in their IPL 2026 encounter at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.

DC arrive on the back of an agonising one-run defeat to the Gujarat Titans, while CSK come with three consecutive defeats behind them. CSK have drafted in Dewald Brevis, who was recovering from a side strain, and left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh.

After winning the toss, DC skipper Axar Patel said Nabi and Ashutosh Sharma will come in place of Vipraj Nigam and Nitish Rana in the playing eleven. Ashutosh will come in DC’s batting innings as the Impact Player, while Sameer Rizvi is slotted at number three.

“We would like to bowl first because the pitch looks good, and whatever score is set, we would prefer to chase it. The IPL is a long tournament, and the dressing room atmosphere is very relaxed.

“The discussion has been around focusing on what we can control. Once we reach a certain point, there’s no need to overthink things. So that’s been the mindset, control what’s in our hands. The mood is good. If you look at the balance of our side, we have almost all bases covered.

“Obviously, based on the options we had, I think we’ve picked a very good combination. Compared to last year, the team looks more balanced, and hopefully, we will perform well today. As for the surface, it has been a good batting wicket this season. Over the last couple of years in Chennai, it has played well. It’s a red soil pitch, so there should be good bounce. Our aim will be to restrict them to as low a total as possible and then chase it down,” he said.

CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said it was good to have Brevis back and strengthen the middle order, while Gurjapneet replaces Matt Henry. Regarding the status of MS Dhoni, who’s recuperating from a calf injury, Gaikwad said he will be watching the game from the team hotel and hopes for him to play very soon.

“The pitch does look a bit on the drier side. We were actually 50-50 about the toss, but it’s good to back ourselves. The aim is to put our best foot forward today, get that first win, and get on the points table. That’s what we’ve been trying over the last couple of games as well.

“Like I mentioned in the press conference, we’ve been improving in all departments. The batting has been doing really well; it’s just a few key moments where we’ve missed out, and those are the areas we need to capitalise on. But overall, everyone is in a good space and really eager to go. When you look at the balance of the side, we are definitely playing to our potential,” he said.

In their pitch report, Daren Ganga and Deep Dasgupta noted that the ground dimensions remain challenging – a 79-metre straight boundary is complemented by square boundaries measuring 65 and 68 metres respectively.

With pitch becoming more conducive for pacers, they pointed out that visible bare patches could help spinners find some purchase, while an even grass covering should provide a stable platform for batters, making another high-scoring encounter a possibility.

Playing XIs:

Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Dewald Brevis, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, and Khaleel Ahmed

Impact substitutes: Matthew Short, Akeal Hosein, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, and Matt Henry

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

Impact substitutes: Vipraj Nigam, Ashutosh Sharma, Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, and Nitish Rana

–IANS

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