New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to field first against Delhi Capitals in their IPL clash here on Sunday, citing favourable conditions and a fresh start after a break.
"It’s not easy to start all over again, but our pacers got good rest. KG (Kagiso Rabada) comes back, that’s a positive," Gill said. Reflecting on the road ahead, he added, "We’ve had a good run, but we have three games left and we’re looking to win all of them. That’s the thing with every match — we have to start fresh."
Gill also admitted to lapses in the fielding department. "Our fielding hasn’t been the best, but we’ve worked hard on it," he said. "Looks like a good wicket, plenty of high scores. Just one change for us — Rabada comes in."
Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel said he too would have preferred to bowl first but remained focused on putting up a competitive total in what is a must-win game for his side. "We too wanted to bowl first, but now we’ll look to post a good total," Axar said. "We’re taking one game at a time, not thinking too far ahead, not too much about qualification."
On Mitchell Starc's absence, Axar said, "I respect his personal decision, but I want players to be 100% fit and focused on the plans." DC made two changes to their XI — Vipraj Nigam replaced Madhav Tiwari, and Mustafizur Rahman came in for Starc. "Same combination otherwise — three pacers and three spinners," Axar added.
Teams
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Arshad Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, Sameer Rizvi, KL Rahul(w), Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mustafizur Rahman.
Impact Subs
Delhi Capitals: Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Karun Nair, Sediqullah Atal, Dushmantha Chameera
Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Washington Sundar, Mahipal Lomror, Anuj Rawat, Dasun Shanaka
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