The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Delhi Capitals (DC) face off to commence their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign.
No Prithvi Shaw or Auqib Nabi for DC
DC captain Axar Patel won the toss and opted to bowl first at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. He informed that Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka will make his IPL debut, opening alongside KL Rahul. It also meant that Dushmanta Chameera will sit out. Considering Delhi is bowling first, and Auqib Nabi hasn’t been named in the starting XI, he won’t make his IPL debut.
Mayank Yadav not even in impact sub list
However, LSG’s team was even more surprising. Mukul Choudhary makes his IPL debut, as Shahbaz Ahmed has been slotted in the impact substitute list. LSG has chosen 4 fast bowlers despite batting first. Prince Yadav and Mohsin Khan have been chosen over Mayank Yadav and Avesh Khan.
Mohammed Shami and Anrich Nortje will make their LSG debuts. Lastly, Rishabh Pant will bat at number three, with Nicholas Pooran expected to bat at number five, lower than Ayush Badoni.
IPL 2026, Match 5: Playing XIs
Lucknow Super Giants: Mitchell Marsh✈️, Aiden Markram✈️, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Nicholas Pooran✈️, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohsin Khan, Mohammed Shami, Anrich Nortje✈️, Prince Yadav
Impact Subs: Digvesh Rathi, Avesh Khan, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akshat Raghuvanshi
Delhi Capitals: KL Rahul (wk), Pathum Nissanka✈️, Nitish Rana, Tristan Stubbs✈️, Axar Patel (c), David Miller✈️, Vipraj Nigam, Lungi Ngidi✈️, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan
Impact Subs: Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chameera✈️, Karun Nair
Cricket
Rishabh Pant promotes himself as LSG opener to overturn IPL fortunes, but luck goes against him
