Languishing at the bottom of the IPL points table, Delhi Capitals (DC) will look to get their act together when the Rishabh Pant-led side takes on a resurgent Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana International Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Friday.

LSG, who sit on the third spot on the points table, are riding high after recording handsome wins in their previous outings. While the home side seems to have all their bases covered, they will miss the services of rookie quick Mayank Yadav, who will be out of action this week due to an abdominal niggle.

The 21-year-old bowled just one over against Gujarat Titans before walking off the field, complaining of soreness last week.

In Yadav’s absence, another rookie pacer, Yash Thakur grabbed the opportunity with both hands, and starred with a five-wicket haul against GT. He will have the company of Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi among others.

In the batting department, the LSG top order has the destructive opening pair of Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul. The South African has scored two half-centuries but the captain is yet to convert his starts. The middle order comprises the likes of Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya with all the abilities to add meat to LSG’s total towards the end.

LSG will be hoping for Devdutt Padikkal to find his groove.

On the other hand, Delhi Capitals have a Herculean task to get back to winning way, as their plans seem to have hit a roadblock this season. A 106-run hammering by Kolkata Knight Riders, followed by another loss to Mumbai Indians in their previous encounter left them with the worst net run rate of -1.370.

While DC’s batting department, led by skipper Pant, David Warner, Tristan Stubb and Prithvi Shaw have provided them with the scores, it is their lacklustre bowling attack that lacked the spunk in all their games so far.

Their pace spearhead Anrich Nortje has had forgettable outings this season, leaking runs at an economy of 13.43 in four outing. In that case, Khaleel Ahmed and Ishant Sharma will be expected to deliver.

The spin attack also looks a weaker one sans Kuldeep Yadav, who is yet to comeback after picking a niggle. Axar Patel will be expected to stop the carnage from the likes of Pooran, Pandya and Rahul in that case.