New Delhi: India all-rounder Axar Patel was Friday appointed captain of Delhi Capitals for upcoming IPL on expected lines pipping another senior player KL Rahul, who has joined the team this season.

Currently team’s longest serving player, having played six seasons for Delhi since 2019, the 31-year-old was DC’s top retention for INR 16.50 crore ahead of the mega auction last November. In 82 games for Delhi, he has scored 967 runs and picked up 62 wickets at a fantastic economy rate of shade over 7.

While his IPL captaincy experience is limited, he led Gujarat in domestic cricket including the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2024-25.

He also served as India’s T20I vice-captain earlier this year and in their recent triumph in Champions Trophy Axar played a key role, taking five wickets at an economy of 4.35. He also played a key role at No 5 and scored 109 runs at 27.25.

“It is my absolute honour to captain the Delhi Capitals, and I’m deeply grateful to our owners and support staff for placing their faith in me,” stated Axar in a media release.

Axar will replace Rishabh Pant at the helm with the flamboyant keeper-batter exiting the franchise before the mega auction, and will now lead Lucknow Super Giants.

The team has seasoned players like Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Faf du Plessis, and Mitchell Starc in the leadership group, and it remains to be seen how Axar brings out the best in them to drive Delhi Capitals forward.

“I’ve grown as a cricketer and a human being during my time here at the Capitals, and I feel ready and confident to lead this side going forward.

DC, one of the three original IPL franchises yet to win a title (along with Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru), finished sixth last season with an equal win-loss record.

For IPL 2025, they have a revamped coaching setup with GMR taking management control for 2025 and 2026 season as per their understanding with co-owners JSW.

The support staff is headlined by Kevin Pietersen along with head coach Hemang Badani, director of cricket Venugopal Rao, assistant coach Matthew Mott and bowling coach Munaf Patel. Venugopal Rao’s brother Gnaneshwar Rao has also been included in the coaching set-up.

“Our coaches and scouts have done a superb job at the mega auction by putting together a balanced and robust squad which has tremendous potential.

“We have plenty of leaders in the group which is also very helpful for me, and I can’t wait to join the team as we look forward to a very successful season.”

Last season, he scored 235 runs at an average of nearly 30 and took 11 wickets at an economy of 7.65.

A veteran of 150 IPL matches, Axar has 1653 runs and 123 wickets to his name, which includes a stunning hat-trick in 2016 when he took 4 wickets in 5 balls for the Punjab franchise.

DC chairman Kiran Kumar Grandhi and co-owner Parth Jindal backed his appointment, highlighting his leadership qualities and contributions to the franchise.

“I have witnessed Axar’s progression as a cricketer and a leader first-hand at the Delhi Capitals,” stated Jindal.

“My relationship with him is one that goes beyond cricket. He is a much-loved character in the dressing room and is someone who I am sure will motivate the players in the squad.

“Axar has blossomed into a brilliant, mature cricketer whose all-round prowess was on full display in India’s T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy winning campaigns recently.

“With seniors like KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis and Mitchell Starc being part of our leadership group, I believe this is the start of something special for the Delhi Capitals.”

“This decision reflects the natural progression for him as a leader — from being our vice-captain for two seasons to now leading the team, he has always stepped up to the occasion for us,” stated Grandhi.

With Axar’s appointment, all five IPL teams who needed new captains after the mega auction have finalised their leaders: Rajat Patidar (RCB), Ajinkya Rahane (KKR), Rishabh Pant (LSG), and Shreyas Iyer (PBKS).

Delhi Capitals will kick-start their IPL 2025 campaign against Lucknow Super Giants in Visakhapatnam March 24.

New Delhi: After playing a pivotal role in India’s 2025 Champions Trophy triumph with his all-round skills, Axar Patel is now likely to be appointed as the new Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper for the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The all-rounder had stepped in to be DC’s captain in IPL 2024 when his predecessor Rishabh Pant was not allowed to play in a crucial game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) due to an over-rate offence.

“Yes, Axar Patel is likely to be named as Delhi Capitals skipper for IPL 2025. The franchise had asked for KL Rahul to be the team’s captain, but he very much wishes to contribute for the side as a player in the upcoming tournament,” sources told IANS Tuesday.

Axar has been with DC since 2019, and was retained for a whopping Rs 18 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. In his IPL career of 150 games, Axar has scored 1653 runs at a strike rate of 130.88 while picking 123 wickets with his left-arm spin bowling at an economy rate of 7.28.

Axar had been India’s vice-captain during their 4-1 T20I series win over England at home this year, but his possible elevation as DC’s captain for IPL 2025 is going to be a major test of his leadership skills, especially with the franchise still looking for their first-ever championship win.

Rahul was also a leadership contender after being roped in by the franchise for Rs 14 crore at the mega auction last year. The wicketkeeper-batter had previously led Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for two seasons each in the IPL, with the latter entering the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 season under his leadership.

But as per the sources, he will now feature for DC minus the leadership role. DC’s opening match of IPL 2025 will be against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam March 24. The side is scheduled to have a short three-day training camp in New Delhi this week, before leaving for Visakhapatnam March 17.

New Delhi: Former England captain Kevin Pietersen was Thursday appointed mentor of Delhi Capitals ahead of the upcoming IPL season.

The 44-year-old thus returns to the side he captained in 2014.

This marks Pietersen’s first coaching assignment in the IPL, where he featured in as a player from 2009 to 2016.

“I’m so excited to come home to Delhi! I have the fondest memories of my time with Delhi. I love the city, I love the fans and I’ll do everything I can to support the franchise in our quest for the title in 2025,” wrote Pietersen on X.

I’m so excited to come home to Delhi! I have the fondest memories of my time with Delhi.
I love the city, I love the fans and I’ll do everything I can to support the franchise in our quest for the title in 2025! https://t.co/ln2ldwKHAz

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) February 27, 2025

A veteran of 200 T20s with 5,695 runs, Pietersen appeared in 36 IPL matches scoring 1001 runs across his stints with Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the Pune franchise.

At DC he will join Hemang Badani, who was named head coach in October last year, assistant coach Matthew Mott, bowling coach Munaf Patel and director of cricket Venugopal Rao.

DC have never won the IPL title, they reached the final in 2020 where they lost Mumbai Indians.

They finished sixth in the previous edition, following which they let go of their skipper Rishabh Pant. They retained Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel.

At the auction last year, DC went in with the biggest purse and added KL Rahul, Harry Brook, Faf du Plessis and Mitchell Starc to their roster.

They have made major changes to their coaching staff ahead of the new season.

They brought in former India player Badani as head coach in place of legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting, while also replacing Australia’s James Hopes with ex-India pacer and member of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad, Munaf, as their bowling coach.

Delhi Capitals will open their IPL campaign against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Visakhapatnam  March 24.

Bengaluru: Shafali Verma (44) and Jess Jonassen’s (61 not out) fireworks underlined Delhi Capitals’ complete domination as they crushed Gujarat Giants by six wickets in a one-sided Women’s Premier League match here Tuesday.

After Gujarat Giants limped to 127 for nine in the first half, Delhi knocked off the target in 15.1 overs with opener Shafali smashing a 27-ball 44 for her highest score of the season.

Delhi Capitals thus moved to the top spot in the points table with their third win in five matches but their net run rate remained in negative (-0.223) in the five-team competition.

It was a brisk 37-ball stand for the second wicket between Verma and Jonassen for 74 runs which provided Delhi Capitals the platform for the huge win, denting the Giants’ hopes of a fightback with the ball after they had removed Meg Lanning (3) early on in the chase.

Verma looked in her elements as she hammered three sixes and five fours before her charge was ended by Giants skipper Ashleigh Gardner who trapped her in front of the wickets.

Jonassen, however, remained unbeaten on 61 off 32 balls (9x4s, 2x6s) for her first half-century of the season.

The pair of Verma and Jonassen pulverised the Giants bowling attack to gather runs from all corners of the ground, indicating that the pitch did not have any demons as it appeared to be in the first half.

Gujarat Giants had slumped to 60 for six halfway through in the first half as the Delhi Capitals pace troika of Marizanne Kapp (2/17), Shikha Pandey (2/18) and Annabel Sutherland (2/20) took two wickets each to deny them any chance of putting up a competitive total on board.

The only minor blip in a near-perfect game for Delhi, however, came towards the end of the chase when they lost Jemimah Rodrigues (5) and Sutherland (1) in quick succession.

Earlier, Bharti Fulmali struck a vital 40 not out to drag Gujarat Giants past 125 after a disastrous start.

Fulmali, batting at No. 8, counter-attacked with two sixes and four fours to make her runs in 29 balls after Gujarat Giants were reduced to 60/6 halfway through their innings.

Deandra Dottin (26) hit five fours earlier in the innings but could not push on as Delhi Capitals’ bowlers produced a largely unified show.

Delhi pace duo of Marizanne Kapp (2/17) and Shikha Pandey (2/18) ran through the Giants top order, reducing them to 20/4 inside the power play.

On a wicket which had movement off the surface and bounce for the bowlers, Kapp began by finding the outside edge of Harleen Deol’s (5) bat and then pinned Phoebe Litchfield in front of the wickets for a duck.

In the fourth over, Pandey accounted for Beth Mooney (10) and Kashvee Gautam (0) in identical fashion, getting the two batters caught by Niki Prasad at deep backward square leg and deep midwicket respectively.

Titas Sadhu (1/15) then got one to nip back into Giants skipper Gardner (3) for the fifth breakthrough and Sutherland cleaned up Dottin to end her resistance in the 11th over.

Bengaluru: Bharti Fulmali struck a vital 40 not out to drag Gujarat Giants to 127 for nine after a disastrous start against Delhi Capitals in their Women’s Premier League contest here Tuesday.

Fulmali, batting at No. 8, counter-attacked with two sixes and four fours to make her runs in 29 balls after Gujarat Giants were reduced to 60/6 halfway through their innings.

Deandra Dottin (26) hit five fours earlier in the innings but could not push on as Delhi Capitals’ bowlers produced a largely unified show.

Delhi pace duo of Marizanne Kapp (2/17) and Shikha Pandey (2/18) ran through the Giants top order, reducing them to 20/4 inside the power play.

On a wicket which had movement off the surface and bounce for the bowlers, Kapp began by finding the outside edge of Harleen Deol’s (5) bat and then pinned Phoebe Litchfield in front of the wickets for a duck.

In the fourth over, Pandey accounted for Beth Mooney (10) and Kashvee Gautam in identical fashion, getting the two batters caught by Niki Prasad at deep backward square leg and deep midwicket respectively.

Titas Sadhu then got one to nip back into Giants skipper Ashleigh Gardner (3) for the fifth breakthrough and Annabel Sutherland (2/20) cleaned up Dottin to end her resistance in the 11th over.

Brief scores: Gujarat Giants 127/9 in 20 overs (Deandra Dottin 26, Bharti Fulmali 40*; Shikha Pandey 2/18, Marizanne Kapp 2/17, Annabel Sutherland 2/20) vs Delhi Capitals.

Bengaluru: Delhi Capitals’ skipper Meg Lanning won the toss and elected to field against Gujarat Giants in their Women’s Premier League contest here Tuesday.

Delhi Capitals made one change, bringing in Titas Sadhu in place of Arundhati Reddy. The Giants brought in Australia batter Phoebe Litchfield and Meghna Singh.

While Delhi Capitals are coming into this contest following a 33-run loss to UP Warriorz, Gujarat Giants too suffered a defeat, by five wickets to Mumbai Indians, in their last outing.

Teams:

Delhi Capitals: Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Annabel Sutherland, Jess Jonassen, Sarah Bryce (wk), Niki Prasad, Shikha Pandey, Titas Sadhu, Minnu Mani.

Gujarat Giants: Beth Mooney (wk), Harleen Deol, Phoebe Litchfield, Ashleigh Gardner (c), Deandra Dottin, Simran Shaikh, Tanuja Kanwar, Bharti Fulmali, Kashvee Gautam, Priya Mishra, Meghna Singh.

New Delhi: Delhi Capitals (DC) have appointed Matthew Mott as assistant coach ahead of IPL 2025, the franchise announced Tuesday.

Mott will assist Hemang Badani, who was named new head coach in October last year. The franchise also has Venugopal Rao as director of cricket and former India pacer Munaf Patel as their bowling coach.

Previously, Mott served as assistant coach of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when John Buchanan was the head coach in the first two seasons of the tournament, in 2008 and 2009.

Mott’s last big-stage job was as the white-ball coach of England men’s national team. He played a key role in England’s 2022 T20 World Cup triumph but stepped down in July last year after a mixed tenure. Following his exit from the England white-ball job, Mott was appointed as an assistant coach by Sydney Sixers in the BBL on a three-year deal last September.

The Australian remains one of the most successful coaches in women’s cricket during his tenure from 2015 to 2022. He led Australia’s women to two T20 World Cups and a 50-over World Cup titles. Under his tenure, Aussie women remained unbeaten in four Ashes series.

DC, who have only reached the final of the IPL once in 16 editions of the league in 2020, finished sixth in the last edition. After letting go of most big-ticket players, DC retained only Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel. They then added star players like KL Rahul, Harry Brook, Faf du Plessis and Mitchell Starc in the mega auction last November.

The franchise, however, is yet to name their captain for the upcoming IPL edition.

Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2025 campaign March 24 against Lucknow Super Giants at Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Jeddah: Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was signed by Delhi Capitals at a base price of Rs 2 crore on the second day of the IPL 2025 Auction here at the Abadi Al Johar Arena in Jeddah Monday.

Delhi faced no hindrance from any team and claimed the attacking opener at his base price to bolster their department for the IPL 2025 season and beyond. Royal Challengers Bengaluru opted against using the Right to Match (RTM) option for their former player.

The other notable purchase in the set 13 of capped batters was West Indies batter Rovman Powell, who was acquired by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 1.5 crore (base price). Powell became the first purchase of the day after New Zealand batters Kane Williamson and Glenn Phillips went unsold.

The other players who went unsold in the opening set on Monday were Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarawal.

The first day of the auction saw 72 players getting sold at a whopping sum of Rs 467.95 crore. Rishabh Pant received the record-breaking Rs 27 crore deal from Lucknow Super Giants while Punjab Kings broke the bank for Shreyas Iyer and bought him for Rs 26.75 crore.

India all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer surprised one and all after being bagged by title winners KKR for Rs 23.75 crore. Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal were grabbed by Punjab Kings for identical Rs 18 crore to give teeth to their bowling attack.

New Delhi: Following the Delhi Capitals’ (DC) final league game of the IPL 2024, which they won by 19 runs against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), India pacer Ishant Sharma revealed the special bond with DC head coach Ricky Ponting, saying the Australian is like his elder brother.

Ishant was the star for Delhi Tuesday night where anything less than a loss would have confirmed their elimination from playoff contention. He was adjudged the player of the match for his bowling figures of 3/34 in four overs which included three crucial scalps of Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda, giving his side an excellent start while defending 209 target.

“We’re not coach and player anymore, he’s a kind of elder brother to me. He’s always there whenever I need him, I can call him anytime. I think it’s very great to have him as a coach. If you have someone like him who really pushes you to keep on trying new things and don’t be afraid if you don’t do well,” said Ishant in a video shared by the IPL on X.

Ponting added: “We were fierce competitors on the field as you would expect a young Indian fast bowler early on in his Test career trying to prove a point. He gave me bit of a working one day at the WACA before he eventually got me out. It’s been a pleasure to coach and work with him.

“He’s a great guy, we’ve actually become very close. We’ve got great respect for one another. He’s been a terrific leader of this bowling attack for the last four-five years.”

With 14 points in as many matches, Delhi are placed fifth in the points table and awaits results of remaining matches to decide their fate in the tournament.

IANS

New Delhi: Delhi Capitals returned to winning ways with a handsome 20-run victory over Rajasthan Royals as they kept their slim IPL playoff hopes alive here Tuesday.

Tristan Stubbs smashed a quickfire 41 from 20 balls to lift Delhi Capitals to 221/8 after Rajasthan Royals opted to field.

In reply, Rajasthan Royals were restricted to 201 for 8 with Kuldeep Yadav being the pick of the bowler for Delhi, returning with 2/25. Khaleel Ahmed (2/47) and Mukesh Kumar (2/30) also picked up two wickets apiece.

Delhi now joined Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants with 12 points each in a mid-table scramble for the playoffs.

Skipper Sanju Samson led Rajasthan’s chase with his fifth half-century of the season.

But his splendid knock of 86 off 46 balls (8×4, 6×6) came to an end after Shai Hope took a controversial catch at the edge of long-on boundary.

Thereafter, Kuldeep gave a twin blow in his final over to virtually end Rajasthan’s hopes.

Earlier, Jake Fraser-McGurk (50 off 20 balls) and Abhishek Porel (65; 36 balls) duo put together 60 runs in just 26 balls before India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3/24) triggered a collapse.

Brief Scores:

Delhi Capitals: 221 for 8 in 20 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 50, Abhishek Porel 65; Ravichandran Aswhin 3/24).

Rajasthan Royals: 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 86; Kuldeep Yadav 2/25, Khaleel Ahmed 2/47, Mukesh Kumar 2/30).

Kolkata: Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to bat in an Indian Premier League match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens here Monday.

DC brought in Prithvi Shaw in place of Kumar Kushagra, while right-arm pacer Rasikh Salam Dar is also part of their playing XI.

KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer too made two changes in the line-up, bringing in Australian quick Mitchell Starc and right-arm pacer Vaibhav Arora.

Teams:

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (c&wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Lizaad Williams, Khaleel Ahmed, Rasikh Salam Dar.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana.

PTI

New Delhi: Delhi Capitals beat Mumbai Indians by 10 runs in another high-scoring Indian Premier League match here Saturday.

Asked to bat first, Delhi Capitals posted a massive 257/4. In reply, MI scored 247/9 in the allotted 20 overs.

DC’s young recruit Jake Fraser-McGurk started smashing the ball right from the start, propelling DC to 92 for no loss in the powerplay.

Fraser-McGurk blazed away to a 25-ball 84 before being dismissed by Piyush Chawla, caught in the deep while trying to clear the fence.

Shai Hope sustained the momentum given by Fraser-McGurk’s brutal onslaught and hammered 41 off just 17 balls with five sixes, while Tristan Stubbs chipped in with an unbeaten 48 off 25 balls.

For MI, Tilak Varma smashed 63 in 32 balls, Hardik Pandya made 46 off 24balls, and Tim David 37 off just 17 deliveries as the visitors came close after slipping to 65/3 in six overs.

Brief scores:

Delhi Capitals: 257/4 in 20 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 84, Shai Hope 41, Tristan Stubbs 48 not out).

Mumbai Indians: 247/9 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 46, Tilak Varma 63, Tim David 37; Rasikh Dar Salam 3/34, Mukesh Kumar 3/59).

PTI

New Delhi: Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to field against Delhi Capitals in their Indian Premier League match against Delhi Capitals here Saturday.

MI made one change to its playing XI, bringing in Luke Wood for Gerald Coetzee.

The Delhi side made a couple of changes, bringing in Kumar Kushagra and Lizaad Williams for Prithvi Shaw and Anrich Nortje.

While DC is ranked sixth on the points table, MI is placed ninth.

Playing XI

DC: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kumar Kushagra, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (wk & c), Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Lizaad Williams, Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed.

MI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Hardik Pandya (c), Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Piyush Chawla, Luke Wood, Jasprit Bumrah and Nuwan Thushara.

Ahmedabad: Delhi Capitals defeated Gujarat Titans by six wickets in a lop-sided IPL match here Wednesday.

Opting to field, DC bowled out former champions GT for a meagre 89 and then came back to overhaul the target, scoring 92 for four in 8.5 overs.

Jake Fraser-McGurk (20), Shai Hope (19) and Rishabh Pant (16 not out) all played cameos to take the team home.

Earlier, it was a batting capitulation for GT as Rashid Khan emerged as the top-scorer with a 24-ball 31. Sai Sudharsan (12) and Rahul Tewatia (10) were the only other batters to reach double figures.

This is GT’s lowest total in IPL, surpassing the previous lowest score of 125, which also came against DC in Ahmedabad last year.

Mukesh Kumar (3/14) was the most successful bowler for DC, while Ishant Sharma (2/8) and Tristan Stubbs (2/11) also took two wickets apiece.

For GT, debutant Sandeep Warrier took two wickets for 40 in his three overs.

Brief Scores:

Gujarat Titans: 89 all out in 17.3 overs (Rashid Khan 31; Mukesh Kumar 3/14).

Delhi Capitals: 92 for 4 in 8.5 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 20; Sandeep Warrier 2/40).

PTI 

Lucknow: Ayush Badoni smashed a quick-fire unbeaten half-century to help Lucknow Super Giants recover to a respectable 167/7 against Delhi Capitals after left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav sizzled with a three-wicket haul in the IPL here Friday.

Returning to the side after missing three matches due to a groin niggle, Kuldeep picked three wickets while giving away 20 runs and conceding no boundaries in his quota of four overs.

His victims included skipper KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and the dangerous Nicholas Pooran.

Khaleel Ahmed (2/41), who landed the early blow, Ishant Sharma (1/36) and Mukesh Kumar (1/41) also took wickets to leave LSG reeling at 94/7.

But then Badoni took the onus upon himself to resurrect the LSG innings. He smashed five boundaries and a six and alongside Arshad Khan (20 off 16 balls)stitched a 73-run unbeaten stand.

Opting to bat, Quinton de Kock had started strong with four boundaries but was dismissed by Khaleel with a leg-before wicket decision in the third over.

Devdutt Padikkal’s wretched run continued as he became Khaleel’s second victim of the day. The pacer pinned Padikkal in front of middle and leg for his fifth consecutive single-figure score.

Khaleel had the opportunity to make it two out of two but the pacer dropped Marcus Stoinis on 0 off his own delivery in the very next ball.

However, Rahul continued to collect boundaries at the other end, taking his side to 57/2 in the powerplay.

But the introduction of Kuldeep in the eighth over helped trigger a batting collapse,

The left-arm spinner first bowled a nicely tossed up delivery with Stoinis throwing his hands at it only to get a leading edge that flew straight to Ishant at backward point.

He then bamboozled the in-form Pooran, who looked clueless as the ball uprooted the off stump.

The batting collapse forced the hosts to send Deepak Hooda as an Impact Substitute but Kuldeep picked up his third wicket in eight balls to get ride of Rahul (39), completely deflating the LSG batting.

Delhi bowlers choked the LSG batters as the boundaries dried up.

Ishant and Mukesh, who also returned to the Delhi playing XI after recovering from an injury, joined the act accounting for Hooda and Krunal Pandya respectively.

PTI 

Lucknow: Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul won the toss and elected to bat in their Indian Premier League match against Delhi Capitals here Friday.

Left-arm pacer Arshad Khan replaced Mayank Yadav, who is nursing a minor niggle, in the LSG playing XI.

Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant has included Mukesh Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav in the side for the match against LSG.

Teams:  

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed.

Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Naveen-ul-Haq, Arshad Khan.

PTI 

New Delhi: South African fast bowler Lizaad Williams has been signed by the Delhi Capitals as a replacement for England’s Harry Brook for the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

Since making his international debut in 2021, Williams has represented South Africa in two Tests, four One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 11 T20 Internationals, the IPL said in a statement on Monday.

He joins Delhi Capitals at his base price of INR 50 lakh.

Visakhapatnam: Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant has been fined Rs 24 lakh for a second-over rate offence in the 2024 Indian Premier League.

Pant was guilty of maintaining a slow-over in the game against Kolkata Knight Riders here Wednesday.

The rest of his teammates were fined 25 percent of their match fees.

“Rishabh Pant, the Delhi Capitals captain, has been fined after his team maintained a slow over rate during their TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match against Kolkata Knight Riders…” said the IPL in a statement.

“As it was his team’s second offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over rate offences, Pant was fined INR 24 lakhs.

“The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either INR 6 lakhs or 25 percent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser,” it added.

Delhi Capitals lost the game to KKR by 106 runs after the latter smashed 272 for seven, the second highest total in IPL history. It was Delhi Capitals’ third loss in four games.

Visakhapatnam: Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has lashed out at his side after the “unacceptable” and “embarrassing” 106-run battering at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders.

The Capitals endured a forgettable outing here Wednesday, first conceding 272 runs in the allotted 20 overs and then getting bowled out for 166 in 17.2 overs for one of their heaviest defeats in the tournament’s history.

“It’s pretty hard to assess right now. I mean I was almost embarrassed with our first half of the game today,” Ponting said at the post-match press conference.

“To concede that many runs…We bowled 17 wides and it took us two hours to bowl our overs as well, so we were two overs behind again, which means the guys bowling last two overs only get to bowl with four fieldsmen outside the circle.”

The Capitals never looked like they were in the game be it with the ball or the bat, crumbling under the weight of the mammoth total, the second-highest in the history of the IPL.

“Lot of things happened in this game that were unacceptable and a lot of things we will talk as a group tonight that we have to fix immediately to go forward in the competition. There will be some good open discussions in the changing room for sure,” Ponting said.

Skipper Rishabh Pant not going for review on a couple of occasions did not help DC’s cause, one of them including Player of the Match Sunil Narine, who set up the game for KKR with his 39-ball 85.

Narine was batting on 24 when Ishant Sharma expressed confidence that the all-rounder had edged the ball, but by the time Pant had signalled to the umpire for a review, the time was up.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Rishabh about those. I mean, obviously, Rishabh hasn’t heard them, other fielders and bowlers did hear something on both occasions. But look, at the end of the day, they are little things.

“There are other bigger concerns for us with the way we bowled, some of the field placings we had set and just how long it’s taking us to get around,” said Ponting, who was more critical of the over-rate.

“We can’t afford to do that, no other team is doing that. We have been two overs down two games in a row, that’s more than 10 minutes down going into the last couple of overs of a bowling innings.”

Ponting lavished praise on 18-year-old Raghuvanshi, who shone on his IPL batting debut.

“I thought the youngster at No.3 (Angkrish Raghuvanshi) played really well and that allowed Russ (Andre Russell) and all those guys to play the way they always play. And they had wickets in hand, so they can keep going hard.

“They did lots of things really well but we got to be really critical of ourselves, on our own performances, and we got to look at ways to get better for the next game,” Ponting said.

Visakhapatnam: Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bat against Delhi Capitals in their Indian Premier League match here Wednesday.

DC are playing Sumit Kumar in place of injured Mukesh Kumar, while Angrish Raghuvanshi has been included in KKR’s playing XI in the team’s only change.

Teams:

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (wk/capt), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Rasikh Dar Salam, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed

Kolkata Knight Riders: Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy.

PTI