Rabada Returns, Mustafizur Replaces Starc as Gill Opts to Bowl in Crucial DC vs GT Clash

The Indian Premier League is officially back in action after a week of suspension, and in match 60 of the league, Gujarat Titans are taking on Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Winning the toss, Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill asked the home team to bat first and opted to field first. After the suspension, teams are facing overseas players’ unavailability and announcing the Playing XI for today’s match, Gill’s lead team was boosted with the presence of Kagiso Rabada after a long break from the season. On the other hand, Delhi Capitals brought Mustafizur Rahman in their line-up.

Mustafizur replaces Starc and Kagiso back in XI after serving Ban

Mitchell Starc refused to return to India after the IPL Suspension due to security concerns, leaving the Delhi Capitals to fill in his void. Axar Patel announced Mustafizur as Mitchell Starc’s replacement for the remainder of the season. It’s a significant game for both teams. A win from here will take both teams closer to the playoffs, while a loss would take them a bit away from playoff qualification, especially for the Delhi Capitals. 

Also, Kagiso Rabada, who left the season in the beginning after being part of just two matches, has also returned to the playing  XI after serving a month of Drug suspension. He replaced Gerald Coetzee in the playing squad.

Captain’s Thoughts:

Axar Patel – We too wanted to bowl first, but we’ll now looks to post a good total. We’re taking one game at a time, not thinking too far ahead, not thinking too much about qualificiation, just taking it one at a time. I respect his personal decision (on Starc), but I want players to be 100% fit, just thinkabout the plans. The same combination – three pacers and three spinners, Vipraj Nigam replaces Madhav Tiwari, Mustafizur replaces Starc

Shubman Gill – We will bowl first. Not easy to start all over again, but good rest for our pacers, KG comes back, that’s a positive for us. We’ve had a good run, but we have three games and we’re looking to win all of them. That’s the thing with every match, we have to start fresh, our fielding hasn’t been the best, and we’ve worked hard on it. We’re hoping that everyone will come back and perform, looks like a good wicket, plenty of high scores, just one change, Rabada comes back

DC vs GT: Playing XIs

Delhi Capitals Playing XI: Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, Sameer Rizvi, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (c), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, T Natarajan, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman

Gujarat Titans Playing XI: Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Arshad Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj.