Delhi Capitals will be looking for consistency when they face five-time champions Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Tuesday, after a season where their performances have swung sharply between impressive wins and disappointing defeats.
Both teams are in a similar position, sitting on eight points from nine matches. With only five games left in the league stage, neither side can afford many more mistakes if they want to stay in the race for the playoffs.
Delhi, placed seventh in the IPL points table, head into Tuesday’s game after Friday’s much-needed win in Jaipur, where their batting finally clicked after three straight losses. However, the damage from the earlier defeats still lingers. Two of them came at home, including a record chase of 265 by Punjab Kings and a heavy loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who exposed Delhi’s fragile batting against quality pace bowling. There was also a painful one-run defeat to Gujarat Titans at the Feroz Shah Kotla, a match Delhi had in their control but failed to close out.
Despite these setbacks, there have been some positives for Delhi. Opener Pathum Nissanka has started to find form and is building a solid partnership with the reliable KL Rahul at the top. Mitchell Starc has added pace and aggression to the bowling attack, giving the team an edge with the new ball.
Kuldeep Yadav, however, will be under pressure to improve after an expensive outing in Jaipur, where he conceded three sixes in his final over. His overall performance this season has also been below expectations, with an economy rate above 10 and only seven wickets in nine matches. T Natarajan, who is expected to control the middle and death overs, has also struggled to make an impact, picking up just five wickets so far.
Even with the ups and downs, captain Axar Patel has maintained a composed approach.
“You have to come every day and keep doing the same things. You can always turn things around. So very happy with the way the boys played. The way they batted and bowled, I think both departments were excellent and I’m very happy,” he said after the win over Rajasthan Royals.
Chennai Super Kings find themselves in a similar situation. Placed one rung above their opponents, they too are under pressure and cannot afford another slip-up, especially after finishing at the bottom last season.
CSK’s batting has also been inconsistent. For a large part of the season, Sanju Samson carried the burden in a relatively young lineup, while skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad struggled for runs. However, the skipper has recently found form, coming into this match after scoring back-to-back half-centuries.
There have also been some changes in the batting order. Urvil Patel has been promoted to number three ahead of Sarfaraz Khan following Aayush Mhatre’s injury. His quick 14 off 12 balls in the win over Mumbai Indians could boost his confidence. Kartik Sharma is another positive, having scored his maiden IPL fifty recently.
Two of CSK’s four wins have come against a struggling Mumbai Indians side, while another victory was against Delhi earlier this season at Chepauk. That result will give Gaikwad and his team some confidence heading into this return fixture.
Dhoni hasn’t travelled with the team to Delhi: Simmons
CSK bowling consultant Eric Simons has confirmed that former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is recovering steadily from a calf injury but he has not travelled with the squad to the national capital.
“An update on MS Dhoni is way above my pay grade. He is not with us but steadily improving. He will be ready when he is ready and he knows when he is ready to play. No, he hasn’t travelled with the team,” Simons said in the pre-match press conference.
The legendary wicketkeeper-batter is yet to feature in any match this season, with his last IPL appearance coming against Gujarat Titans on May 25 in the 2025 edition.
Squads:
Delhi Capitals: Abhishek Porel, KL Rahul, Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, David Miller, Auqib Nabi Dar, Pathum Nissanka, Lungi Ngidi, Sahil Parakh, Prithvi Shaw, Kyle Jamieson, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Karun Nair, T Natarajan.
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni, Urvil Patel, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Ayush Mhatre, Shreyas Gopal, Jamie Overton, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Noor Ahmad, Akeal Hosein, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Sarfaraz Khan, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar, Zakary Foulkes, Spencer Johnson, Kartik Sharma, Aman Khan.