Siraj to Abishek Porel, no run

Siraj to Abishek Porel, wide, back-to-back wides,

Siraj to Abishek Porel, wide

Abishek Porel and Karun Nair are at the crease. Abishek Porel is on strike. Siraj will open the attack

Porel and Nair will open. Only two foreigners named in the first XI for each team. That's certainly very rare.

Here are the Impact substitutes for both the teams:

Delhi Capitals Impact Subs: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Darshan Nalkande, Sameer Rizvi, Donovan Ferreira, Dushmantha Chameera

Gujarat Titans Impact Subs: Sherfane Rutherford, Mahipal Lomror, Anuj Rawat, Washington Sundar, Karim Janat

Teams:

Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul(w), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel(c), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar

Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma

Axar Patel: I also wanted to field. I was confused as it was that hot. I was a little skeptical due to the weather. The bowlers might get tired under the sun. We will look to score well and look to defend.

Shubman Gill: We will bowl first. It is very hot. The wicket looks very good.

Gujarat Titans have won the toss and have opted to field

Rashid Khan: It's good so far, going well so far as a team for us. Pretty happy to be in top half of the table. The most important thing is the support you get from your own crowd, it's one of the biggest stadiums. It's always full, it gives you energy when you see that passion and support. You want to give your best performance for the team. I think it's quite important (team's position on the points table.) That's where the competition starts. You can't take any game lightly as every game counts. We are in a good place at the moment but the tournament will get tougher and tougher from here. As a team you can't make mistakes. You have to be accurate as a bowler. Accuracy becomes very important. The batters back up their skills these days and go hard after the bowlers. As a spinner you will have to bowl in the right areas and get help from the wicket.

The head to head is in favour of DC who have won 3 out of the 5 encounters between the two. Gill, Sai and Jos will be the key as it has been the case for the GT side.

Pitch report: The pitch number 6 is being used. Three matches on this pitch, average first innings score is 219. Beautiful looking wicket. Even covering of grass. Absoulte belter.

14:30 Local Time, 09:00 GMT, 14:30 IST:

Preview

Their strategies and team composition may be a stark contrast to each other, but the one thing common to Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals so far this season has been consistency. Nearing the halfway mark of the tournament, DC have five wins while GT have four with both sides having played six games apiece. This fixture, therefore, will officially get both teams to their halfway point in the season.

There has been a slight old-school method to GT's madness. They are a side that's top-heavy and have their bowling as their stronger suit. However, their wins have been evenly bunched, with two each batting first and second. They had strung four wins on the trot before being undone by LSG in Lucknow. Nevertheless, Shubman Gill's side looks a well-rounded outfit with their bowling potency making them a formidable opposition.

GT's batting does depend a lot on Shubman Gill although the skipper hasn't been at his damaging best. The form of Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler, though, has covered up for their captain's lack of runs. The bowling has delivered on a more collective basis with Prasidh Krishna and Mohammad Siraj doing an efficient job. Rashid Khan continues to blow hot and cold but Sai Kishore has stepped up immensely although the latter did get a battering from Nicholas Pooran in the last game.

The Capitals are fresh off a morale-boosting Super Over win against Rajasthan Royals at home. Axar Patel's men have found ways to win games out of nowhere and that makes them a dangerous side. Not that DC don't have firepower in their squad. Even with Faf du Plessis missing due to injury and Jake Fraser-McGurk misfiring, the batting has responded due to their middle order. KL Rahul has been the standout with able support from the others, notably Tristan Stubbs. They also have the miracle man Ashutosh Sharma who created magic in their tournament opener against LSG.

Like their opponents, DC also have a potent bowling attack that relies a bit more on their world class spin trio. Axar is yet to click full time as a bowler but his left-arm spin has steadily found rhythm, given that he was battling with a finger injury. Kuldeep Yadav continues to lead the pack and Vipraj Nigam has shown immense promise as well. They should enjoy the large dimensions of the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad but a lot of that will also depend on the type of pitch that will be given for this fixture. Both teams are in good form with plenty of quality in their ranks, and it sets up for an evenly fought contest.

When: Gujarat Titans vs Delhi Capitals, April 19th, 3:30 PM IST

Where: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

What to expect: Pitches have generally been good for batting. The two red-soil surfaces at this venue saw teams batting posting scores well in excess of 200. Meanwhile, the black soil surface also saw a moderately good total of 196. The bowlers have also had a say, especially on the black soil track.

Head to head: GT 2-3 DC. Nothing much to choose between the sides here as well.

Team watch:

Gujarat Titans

Injury/Unavailability: Kagiso Rabada has still not returned since leaving home for an emergency.

Tactics & matchups: Rashid Khan could prove an important matchup for GT against KL Rahul, with the legspinner having dismissed the batter three times in 47 balls.

Probable XII: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj.

Delhi Capitals

Injury/Unavailability: Faf du Plessis's recovery is on the right path and has an outside chance of featuring in this game. There is also an injury cloud over Kuldeep Yadav, although it isn't expected to be serious.

Tactics & matchups: Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel will have key roles to play against Jos Buttler, having dismissed the England batter thrice each.

Probable XII: Jake Fraser-McGurk/Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel (c), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar.

Did you know?

- GT openers have added 320 runs in six games (most among all teams) so far this season at an average of 53.33. The DC openers, on the other hand, have added only 126 runs (least among all teams) at an average of 21

- Out of the 26 times that he has batted in the Powerplay, Sai Sudharsan has been dismissed only four times. His average of 105.0 in this phase is the best for any batter in IPL history (Min. 20 innings)

- Jake Fraser-McGurk has survived beyond the Powerplay in only seven of his 29 T20 innings since the conclusion of IPL 2024. He has five single digit scores in this IPL, with a highest of 38

What they said

"Our strike rotation in the middle wasn't as good as we expected and it's something we need to work on. " - Shubman Gill on what went wrong in the batting against LSG.

"As a captain, I have to take care of the team and the atmosphere. But at the same time, it shouldn't appear like I'm taking it lightly. It shouldn't be like, the captain is joking around. But I've drawn that line" - Axar Patel is clear about his methodology as captain.

Squads: