Winless in their last three matches, Delhi Capitals face a must-win situation to keep themselves alive in IPL 2026 when they face a confident Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Friday.
The Axar Patel-led outfit, positioned at seventh in the 10-team IPL standings, endured a difficult season. In their last two matches, they have seen extreme results. They scored more than 250 runs in one game but still lost after conceding a record chase, and then were bowled out for just 75 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the next match.
Earlier this month, they also suffered a narrow one-run defeat against Gujarat Titans. With three wins and four losses, Delhi are currently placed seventh and need to turn things around quickly.
One of their main issues has been inconsistent batting. Players like KL Rahul, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs and Sameer Rizvi have all made contributions at different times, but the batting unit has not performed well together.
In the last match, Abhishek Porel was one of the few positives. Coming in as an Impact Player, he helped the team avoid a very low total. The team management may now consider including him in the starting XI.
There is some good news for Delhi in their bowling department. Star fast bowler Mitchell Starc is expected to return after getting clearance from Cricket Australia from May 1. With Lungi Ngidi still unavailable, Starc’s return is a big boost. He could replace either Kyle Jamieson or Dushmantha Chameera in the team.
Delhi’s bowlers didn’t have much to defend in the previous game, but they will need to be much better against a strong Rajasthan batting line-up.
Rajasthan’s top order has been aggressive this season. Youngster Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has impressed with his fearless approach, taking on top bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. Yashasvi Jaiswal has also been in good form.
Rajasthan, who are currently fourth on the table, come into this match with confidence. They recently handed Punjab Kings their first defeat of the season, which was their sixth win in nine matches.
Another positive for Rajasthan is that their middle order has started performing after a slow start, giving the team better balance. Against a Delhi bowling attack that has struggled at times, Rajasthan will be confident of continuing their good run.
The rivalry between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals has been very close over the years. In 30 matches between them, both teams have won 15 games each.
The Sawai Mansingh Stadium has usually offered balanced conditions, but this season has been different. In the first match played at the venue this season, Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down 229 comfortably, showing that the pitch is good for batting. If a similar surface is used again, bowlers will have very little room for error.
Squads:
Rajasthan Royals: Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Riyan Parag (c), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Sandeep Sharma, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ravi Bishnoi, Aman Rao Perala, Adam Milne, Kuldeep Sen, Dasun Shanaka, Sushant Mishra, Vignesh Puthur, Ravi Singh, Brijesh Sharma.
Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (c), K.L. Rahul, Karun Nair, David Miller, Pathum Nissanka, Sahil Parakh, Prithvi Shaw, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Auqib Dar, Nitish Rana, T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Lungisani Ngidi, Kyle Jamieson, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc.