Veteran opener David Warner was surprisingly left out of the Delhi Capitals' starting lineup for their crucial match against the Gujarat Titans on Wednesday. Team captain Rishabh Pant didn't disclose the reason, but speculation centers on Warner's recent struggles.
The omission could also be linked to the emergence of young Australian batter Jake Fraser-McGurk, who has impressed with his explosive batting in recent matches, becoming DC's most consistent scorer. This has led the Capitals to experiment with a new opening partnership featuring Prithvi Shaw and Fraser-McGurk.
Gujarat Titans Elect to Bowl First
Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl first against Delhi Capitals in match 40 of the IPL 2024.
Delhi made two changes to their XI after a 67-run defeat to the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Opener David Warner, who has struggled this season with 167 runs in seven innings (average: 23.85, strike rate: 135.77), was dropped. Shai Hope, with 63 runs in three innings (average: 31.50, strike rate: 140), replaces him at the top of the order. All-rounder Lalit Yadav, who played in the previous match, was moved to the impact substitutes.
Gill, Pant on Toss Decisions
"We will bowl first," Shubman Gill said after winning the toss. "Looks like a good wicket, we've been chasing well in the last couple of games. Means a lot to me (on playing 100 IPL matches), have come a long way, still a long way to go, but the focus is on today's match. It's cricket, there'll always be ups and downs, you want to play the way you're good at. We're playing the same."
"It's a good toss to lose, we would have batted first anyway," Rishabh Pant said. "We just spoke at keeping things simple, just doing what we can do for a longer period of time. This wicket looks a bit slower than the last game, dew plays a big factor here, there was no dew last time, hopefully it'll not be there tonight as well. Two changes - David Warner sits out and Hope replaces him, Sumit Kumar replaces Lalit Yadav."
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (wk/c), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar
Delhi Capitals Impact Subs: Sumit Kumar, Rasikh Dar Salam, Kumar Kushagra, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Warrier
Gujarat Titans Impact Subs: Sharath BR, Sai Sudharsan, Manav Suthar, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar
