Lucknow, April 12 (IANS): Hosts Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) won the toss and elected to bat first against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Match 26 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Friday. Mayank Yadav has been replaced by Arshad Khan in the LSG playing XI after suffering an injury in the match against Gujarat Titans whereas for Delhi Capitals Mukesh Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav are back.

Lucknow Super Giants captain K.L. Rahul said, “We will bat first. We want to start fresh, looks like a good wicket. I don't think dew is going to play a part. It has made a huge difference. You can bowl well, bat well, express yourselves, the big boundaries, the bowlers enjoy playing here. The batters are enjoying batting here. The three games we have played here have been packed. Arshad Khan comes in for Mayank Yadav.”

Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant said, “We would have batted first as well. A few of our players got injured, so need to find the right playing XI. We have two changes. Mukesh and Kuldeep are back. They were injured, looking forward to seeing them back on the field.”

The hosts, LSG are sitting third in the points table, winning three games on the trot after losing the opener, while DC are rooted at the bottom of the list after managing just a solitary win in five matches this season.

The two teams met three times in the past two seasons with LSG maintaining an unbeaten record against DC.

Playing XIs:

Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (wk/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Arshad Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur

Substitutes: Gowtham, Hooda, Siddharth, Mishra and Henry

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (wk/c), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed

Substitutes: Richardson, Abishek Porel, Kushagra, Sumit and Dubey