The razzmatazz of cricket, the Indian Premier League (IPL), will kick off on March 28 with the match between defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
In the first phase of the league, Delhi Capitals will play four matches. The Axar Patel-led team will travel to Lucknow Supergiants for their opening match on April 1. After that, they will host five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Then they will host Gujarat Titans on April 8. In their final match of the duration, on April 11, they will travel to meet another IPL powerhouse and five-time champions Chennai Super Kings at the Chidambaram Stadium.
The franchise, previously known as Delhi Daredevils, is now one of two old teams in the IPL that has not won the league. Until last season, they also had RCB in their company but this time around they find themselves only with the Punjab franchise, which means they will be under tremendous pressure to deliver the goods.
{{/usCountry}}The franchise, previously known as Delhi Daredevils, is now one of two old teams in the IPL that has not won the league. Until last season, they also had RCB in their company but this time around they find themselves only with the Punjab franchise, which means they will be under tremendous pressure to deliver the goods.
{{/usCountry}}The Delhi franchise has reached the final just once, in 2020, where they were beaten by Mumbai Indians. In 2008 and 2009, they reached the semis. That was the golden phase for them, to all intents and purposes. The league introduced the play-offs format in 2011 and four times Delhi have been in the play-offs, in 2012, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Four times they have finished bottom of the league in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2018. Last year, they finished fifth. This season, they have brought in players like David Miller, J&K's up-and-coming pacer Auqib Nabi, Pathum Nissanka, Lungi Ngidi, Ben Duckett and Kyle Jamieson, and they will hope they can stage some kind of turnaround for themselves. Frankly speaking, only winning the league will be considered success for them.
Squad:
KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Abhishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Axa Patel, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Auqib Nabi, Ben Duckett, David Miller, Pathum Nissanka, Lungi Ngidi, Sahil Parakh, Prithvi Shah, Kyle Jamieson, Nitish Rana, Mitchell Starc, Kudeep Yadav
Delhi Capitals' schedule so far
April 1 - Lucknow Super Giants vs Delhi Capitals - Lucknow - 7:30PM IST
April 4 - Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians - Delhi - 7:30PM IST
April 8 - Delhi Capitals vs Gujarat Titans - Delhi - 7:30PM IST
April 11 - Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals - Chennai - 7:30PM IST
April 18 - Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Delhi Capitals - Bengaluru - 3:30PM IST
April 21 - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Capitals - Hyderabad - 7:30PM IST
April 25 - Delhi Capitals vs Punjab Kings - Delhi - 3:30PM IST
April 27 - Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru - Delhi - 7:30PM IST
May 1 - Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals - Jaipur - 7:30PM IST
May 5 - Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings - Delhi - 7:30PM IST
May 8 - Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders - Delhi - 7:30PM IST
May 11 - Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals - Dharamshala - 7:30PM IST
May 17 - Delhi Capitals vs Rajasthan Royals - Delhi - 7:30PM IST
May 24 - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals - Kolkata - 7:30PM IST