IPL 2026: Delhi Capitals win toss; opt to bat vs Punjab Kings

The Delhi Capitals vs Punjab Kings clash is being held at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking at the toss, the Capitals skipper Axar Patel opened up about the decision to bat first. Axar cited the hot conditions and the expectation that the pitch would slow down as the match progresses.

"We will bat first. It's hot, so we want to post a good total and defend it. The track will slow down," Axar said at the toss.

He acknowledged that while the team has been competitive, they have struggled to capitalise in key phases of matches. "All teams are playing well, we are also trying to play well, but we are not winning the crucial moments. We are making small mistakes. We need to work on that," he said.

Axar also confirmed that Delhi Capitals made no changes to their playing XI for the match.

Speaking at the toss, PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer emphasised the importance of staying focused on the present after the toss in an IPL 2026 encounter, highlighting the need to maintain discipline and right habits despite challenging conditions.

"It's important to stay in the moment. It was hot in that game. We need to follow the right habits. It has been going great. I would have loved to bowl. We are going with the same team," Iyer said.

Teams:

Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): KL Rahul(wk), Pathum Nissanka, Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel(c), Nitish Rana, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar.

Delhi Capitals (Impact Subs): Vipraj Nigam, Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi Dar.

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh(wk), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Punjab Kings (Impact Subs): Nehal Wadhera, Harpreet Brar, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Vishnu Vinod. (ANI)