Two weeks into the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, the Delhi Capitals (DC) are among the top four teams. It’s no coincidence. Even last year, Delhi had one of the most balanced units. But they punched under their weight, losing the plot at the back end of the tournament.
They’ve also got off to a great start in 2026. They fell just one run short against the Gujarat Titans; otherwise, it would’ve been a perfect 3-0 start to the season. David Miller sending Kuldeep Yadav back on the penultimate ball of the match will haunt them for a while, but as captain, Axar Patel said in a talk to his team, forget about it and focus on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) match on April 11.
Time to drop Nitish Rana
However, Delhi has to address one issue. It’s their top three. 33, 42, and 63. These have been their powerplay scores. That’s a run rate of just 7.66 with the field restrictions. In short, it’s not good enough. KL Rahul‘s strike rate has been on the lower side inside the powerplay. But the bigger issue has been Nitish Rana.
The southpaw from Delhi has failed to show that he belongs. DC had banked on him because of his experience in the IPL and playing at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. But it hasn’t worked. Three matches in, Rana has scored just 20 runs at a strike rate of 76.92. He looked out of his depth against Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav, and Mohsin Khan in Lucknow.
Rashid Khan got the better of him the other day. And it was concerning since he’s the designated spin hitter on that team, since Axar has demoted himself down the order. At this moment, he’s pulling them down. He’s a walking wicket and has been wasting balls as well.
Delhi has three options to replace him: Abhishek Porel, Prithvi Shaw, and Karun Nair. However, the former two will fit the team better. Porel was a bit of an anchor last IPL season, which Delhi may not want. But he’s got that explosive ability. Nair was fine himself, but Porel is ahead in the pecking order.
As for Shaw, he can be used to maximise the powerplay with Rahul moving down to three. However, the issue with that is Delhi will need to tinker with the opening partnership, which clicked against Gujarat. You don’t want that. The best option will be to use Porel at 3, who’s a left-handed batter like Rana and can keep the wickets if Rahul doesn’t want to.
Predicted Delhi Capitals Playing XI vs CSK
| S. No. | Player | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | KL Rahul (wk) | Wicketkeeper opener |
| 2 | Pathum Nissanka✈️ | Opener |
| 3 | Abishek Porel | Top-order batter |
| 4 | Tristan Stubbs✈️ | Middle-order batter |
| 5 | David Miller✈️ | Middle-order batter |
| 6 | Axar Patel (c) | All-rounder |
| 7 | Vipraj Nigam | Bowling all-rounder |
| 8 | Kuldeep Yadav | Left-arm wrist spinner |
| 9 | Mukesh Kumar | Right-arm fast bowler |
| 10 | Lungi Ngidi✈️ | Right-arm fast bowler |
| 11 | T Natarajan | Left-arm fast bowler |
| Impact Player | Sameer Rizvi | Middle-order batter |
