Delhi Capitals (DC) are locking horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Match 35 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The match is taking place at the iconic Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, marking the first game at this venue in the current 17th season of the lucrative league. Noteworthy changes have been made to Delhi’s starting lineup for this game, with the notable absence of veteran fast bowler Ishant Sharma.

Reason behind Ishant Sharma’s absence

Delhi captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and opted to field first. He explained the rationale behind excluding Ishant from their ultimate playing XI. Pant disclosed that Ishant had experienced a back spasm, which accounted for the tall pacer’s absence from the lineup.

South African star returns

Additionally, Pant revealed that South African fast bowler Anrich Nortje had been selected in the final XI. It’s worth mentioning that Nortje endured a tough beginning to the IPL 2024 season, as he was heavily targeted in the initial matches before Delhi decided to bench him.

“We’re going to bowl first. Wicket looks pretty good, we would like to chase because we are playing more as a batting unit. We have more batters. Maybe there will be dew. Ground doesn’t matter, end of the day you have to play good cricket. We’re looking to improve each and every match. Instead of Sumit, Lalit comes in. Instead of Ishant, who had a back spasm just 5 minutes back, Nortje comes in,” said Pant at the toss.

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Playing XIs of both teams

Delhi Capitals: David Warner, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar
Subs: Prithvi Shaw, Shai Hope, Praveen Dubey, Rasikh Dar Salam, Sumit Kumar
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan
Subs: Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Akash Maharaj Singh, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar

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