Delhi Capitals will be forced to make some changes to their playing XI for their must-win game against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in order to keep their slim hopes of making it to the IPL 2026 playoffs alive. Axar Patel and co. are on a two-match losing streak and will desperately need to win their next game in order to fancy a chance of making it to the top four. And for that, they will have to get rid of certain weak links like Nitish Rana and Vipraj Nigam in order to return to winning ways, focusing more on their batting, while also adding more firepower to their pace unit, which is surely going to be more favoured in Dharamsala than their spin unit.
Predicted DC playing XI vs PBKS
Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul (WK), Abhishek Porel, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel (C), David Miller, Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav
Impact player: Lungi Ngidi
DC will not want to touch their opening combination at such a crucial stage of IPL 2026, for Rahul and Nissanka have just begun performing in sync. The Karnataka batter has 468 runs from 11 matches in IPL 2026 while his Sri Lankan counterpart has been a little below par with 278 runs from 10 matches, but has shown signs of promise. DC have the option to bring in Prithvi Shaw – who has been benched so far – in place of Nissanka, but they won’t do so. Instead, they are likely to axe Nitish Rana from the playing XI, as his poor performance continues.
Rana, since moving to DC in IPL 2026, 225 runs in 9 matches at a average of 25 and a highest score of 91. His scores, while batting at number 3 for the side, are 15, 0, 5, 57, 91, 1, 33, 15 and 8. Therefore, it would be wise for DC to replace Rana with Porel in the playing XI vs PBKS. The promising middle-order batter, who amassed 301 runs in IPL 2025, has played just one match so far in this season and has been left out despite having immense potential. DC might as well use the services of the youngster at number 3 instead of a misfiring Rana.
In order to boost their batting depth, the team can also look at bringing back David Miller. Axar Patel, who has only managed to score 44 runs and take 10 wickets from 11 matches has been a majr let-down for DC and will have to step up and deliver against PBKS, should the side fancy a chance of making it to the top-four. Miller could very well replace Vipraj Nigam in the line-up while the team is batting, and could later be substitued by Ngidi as an impact player during the bowling.
It is very well documented that pace is more favoured than spin in Dharamsala. Therefore, Kuldeep Yadav is enough as a sole spinner, while the pace unit will be spearheaded by Mitchell Starc and will comprise of Mukesh and Ngidi. Besides, Axar is there to provide support to Kuldeep, someone whom the former described as a partner he missed earlier.
DC are currently 8th on the IPL 2026 points table with 4 wins from 11 matches. They need to win all their remaining 3 matches and then pray for the results of the other fixtures to go in their favour if they want to make it to the playoffs. And therefore, the contest against PBKS is a must-win.
