New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) A fit-again Lungi Ngidi has returned for Delhi Capitals as captain Axar Patel won the toss and elected to bat first against five-time champions Chennai Super Kings in match 48 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday. A win for either of the two teams will brighten their chances of staying alive in the race for the playoffs.
After winning the toss, Axar said, Ngidi, who was declared hundred percent fit by bowling coach Munaf Patel on the eve of the clash after recovering from an unfortunate head injury against the Punjab Kings last month, and completed a seven-day mandatory stand-down period, replaces fellow pacer Kyle Jamieson in the playing eleven.
“I think the surface looks good, and we feel it’s a very good pitch. Maybe in the second innings it might slow down a bit, so I’d like to give that advantage to our bowlers. The way the tournament is going, it’s a very important match. But at the same time, it’s more important to focus on how you’re playing.
“You can’t think too much about points – if you do, you put extra pressure on yourself. That’s what we’ve been discussing as a team; we just want to play good cricket, and the points will take care of themselves.
“We’ve lost some close matches, but if you look at the season overall, I’m happy with the wins and performances. That’s what happens sometimes, but if we talk about cricket, I’m very happy with the boys’ batting and bowling. In fielding, if we had done better, we could have been in a stronger position,” he said.
CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, who got a roaring reception from the crowd dressed majorly in a yellow jersey, said he wanted to bowl first anyway and wasn’t worried about losing the toss.
With pace-bowling all-rounder Ramakrishna Ghosh ruled out of the competition due to a right foot fracture, CSK had to rejig their combination – left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Akeal Hosein and left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh have come into the playing eleven.
“The pitch looks a bit dry, so I don’t think it will change much. So batting or bowling first won’t make much difference. There have been some positive signs in the last 2–3 matches. Even though we haven’t won every game, there are some good positives. Since the first three matches of the tournament, we’ve improved a lot in all departments.
“Our bowling has been doing really well, and the batting is slowly coming together. We just want to carry that momentum into the last phase of the tournament. We’re really happy coming into this game, especially after the last one.
“But this is a new game, so we want to start fresh and start well. It’s also great to see youngsters getting opportunities and stepping up. It’s a good sign for the franchise – they are repaying the faith shown by the management,” he said.
Tuesday’s clash will be played on pitch number four, and the boundaries are 66 metres square on one side, while 60 metres is the boundary on the other side, and the 73 metres boundary stands straight down the ground. In the pitch report, Ian Bishop and Eoin Morgan noted that showers in the past 24 hours have cooled the conditions, but the surface remains rock‑hard and conducive for batting.
Playing XIs:
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Jamie Overton, Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh
Impact substitutes: Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Matt Short, Akash Madhwal, and Sarfaraz Khan
Delhi Capitals: KL Rahul (wk), Pathum Nissanka, Karun Nair, Tristan Stubbs, Nitish Rana, Axar Patel (captain), Ashutosh Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan
Impact substitutes: Vipraj Nigam, Sameer Rizvi, Abishek Porel, Auqib Nabi Dar, and David Miller
–IANS
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