Bruised and battered in their first couple of games in the ongoing season of the IPL, the Delhi Capitals management must be working overtime to sort out their combination ahead of their league stage contest against the mighty Chennai Super Kings in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

In the last three meetings, Delhi Capitals have been humiliated by heavy margins of 91, 27 and 77 runs, respectively by the Chennai franchise, and thus a win against the five-time IPL champions on Sunday, could come as a morale-booster for Rishabh Pant’s men.

Defending champions CSK experienced a sound opening to their IPL 2024 campaign after recording two back-to-back victories, including a big 63-run win against the Gujarat Titans at home, and will be looking to continue the momentum against the listless Delhi Capitals.

Delhi Capitals have messed up with the team composition at the auction table itself for some years, and the outcome is felt during match situations. Unlike DC, CSK went all-out splurging Rs 8.40 crore to rope in uncapped Sameer Rizvi, who began his IPL journey by smoking two sixes in his first IPL innings against Punjab Kings showed how the team’s talent scouts work behind the scenes.

The Delhi Capitals’ plans of going with Ricky Bhui, the highest scorer in Ranji Trophy with 902 runs in the just-concluded season, backfired in their previous outing against Rajasthan Royals, while their ploy of opening the innings with David Warner, who is past his prime, and Mitchell Marsh, haven’t paid much dividends.

And thus, DC might opt for Prithvi Shaw to add some muscle to the batting against an attack comprising Mustafizur Rahman, Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana and Ravindra Jadeja. To add to the visitors’ bowling strength, Daryl Mitchell’s seam-up stuff and Rachin Ravindra, whose bowling potential hasn’t been unlocked by CSK yet.

In the scenario of Shaw opening the innings with Warner, Marsh could be dropped to one down, to lend more solidity to their batting as Shai Hope, Tristan Stubbs take some time before flexing their muscles. Young Abhishek Porel has already displayed his finishing skills in the first match against Punjab Kings, and would be expected to do an encore.

DC’s death bowling is also a concern and barring left-arm spinner Axar Patel, whose economy rate is less than six in two games, none of the other bowlers have gone for anything less than 7.50 per over. Kuldeep Yadav has been amongst the wickets but the DC spinners will be up for a challenge when CSK unleashes their main weapon in Shivam Dube. Dube has been a nightmare to spinners in the first couple of matches, and the DC think-tank must employ their spinners judiciously.

Among the pacers, Ishant Sharma is yet to return to the Playing XI, which means Anrich Nortje would lead the attack despite failing to hit the right length in the Royals game where DC lost it in the last five overs of their bowling innings.