4th Match Delhi Capitals vs Lucknow Super Giants

Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul having traded their jerseys ahead of this season, some know-how that would reside in the camps of Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants even as the respective squads have been shuffled. The coaching staff has also undergone a bit of an overhaul. Fresh ideas and fresh personnel are in, but old concerns remain - how to level up to be counted among the elites of the competition.

Both teams failed to make the playoffs last season, but even with their depleted squad, they find themselves with an opportunity to mark a win early this year. That opportunity presents itself in Visakhapatnam, the coastal city which is now serving as the home ground of Capitals for two games. Acing the conditions here will again be paramount for Capitals to gain early momentum and set the tone for their IPL campaign.

The last time an IPL game was played at this venue, Kolkata Knight Riders had plundered 272 runs. Given the impacted pace attack of LSG, DC have the opportunity to display their attacking chops in what could be a high-scoring encounter. Interestingly, both the IPL contests played at the venue were won by teams batting first.

 Matchups: LSG are likely to have three to four left-handers in their middle order, which could potentially dent Axar Patel's effectiveness through the middle. However, that could also make the role of Kuldeep Yadav and the part-time offspin of Tristan Stubbs more handy.

Probable XI: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, KL Rahul, Axar Patel © , Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan, (Impact Sub: Karun Nair/Mohit Sharma)

Lucknow Super Giants:

Injury/Unavailability: Shardul Thakur has come in as a replacement for Mohsin Khan, but LSG have been hit with a slew of injuries to their Indian pacers, with even Mayank Yadav, Akash Deep and Avesh Khan likely to be unavailable for the opening game.

Matchups: Axar Patel and Abhisek Porel are the only left-handers in the DC top-seven. That could give LSG spinners a bigger role to play in a side that is likely to be thin on their pace reserves.

Probable XI: Arshin Kulkarni, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravi Bishnoi, Shamar Joseph (Impact Sub: Akash Singh/Shahbaz Ahmed/Manimaran Siddarth)