After a grand opening of Indian Premier League 2024 followed by yet another dominant Chennai Super Kings show at home, the tournament rolls on to its second match. Delhi Capitals are up against Punjab Kings at the new open-air venue, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, in Mullanpur on Saturday, March 23. (Match Blog | Full IPL 2024 Coverage | Streaming)
The match is especially significant as it will mark the comeback of Rishabh Pant to professional cricket. The charismatic India wicketkeeper-batter had faced a life-threatening accident in December 2022 and will return to the fold after more than 14 months.
He has been deemed fit to bat as well as keep wickets by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, but it remains to be seen whether Pant will don the gloves initially, given that his franchise had earlier said that the 26-year-old will play as a batter for the first few games. Either way, Pant is set to lead Delhi Capitals as captain and would love to get the team's campaign off to a bright start in IPL 2024.
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But it might not be so easy against hosts Punjab Kings. Shikhar Dhawan's outfit has made a few big-budget buys in the mini auction in December, including the most expensive Indian player in the form of seamer Harshal Patel (for INR 11.75 crore) and South African batter Rilee Rossouw for INR 8 crore. The team means business and will be raring to draw first blood in the exciting clash.
Head-To-Head Record In IPL
An early indication of a possible close encounter on Saturday is the two team's head-to-head record. DC and PBKS have played each other 32 times in IPL history and they have won 16 games apiece.
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The last five games paint a slightly different picture, however. DC have won four of the last five clashes between the two, including the latest one in Dharamsala. The Capitals put 213 runs on the board and restricted the Kings to 198/8. The game before that was won by PBKS, and that is their only victory over DC in the previous three seasons.
About The Venue
As the Mullanpur stadium is a new one, it will be the first time for both sides to be playing here. The venue had an average run rate of 8.51 runs per over in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season, making it the fourth highest in the country (cut-off of five matches).
Summer is here in Punjab and the temperature in the afternoon is likely to be around 30 degree Celsius. The square boundaries are nearly 74 yards long and the straight ones around 81 yards, which could dictate the number of sixes hit in the day.
Squads
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.
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Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (c), Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Kumar Kushagra, Ricky Bhui, Shai Hope, Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull, Swastik Chikara, David Warner, Pravin Dubey, Axar Patel, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Sumit Kumar, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Jhye Richardson, Rasikh Salem.
