Mukesh Kumar to come back in, Anrich Nortje’s return unclear: DC's predicted XI vs PBKS in IPL 2023

Mukesh Sharma is likely to be included in David Warner's playing XI as DC take on PBKS in IPL 2023. Here is their predicted XI.

Bottom of the table Delhi Capitals (DC) will take on the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the IPL 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on May 13 in the first of the double header between the two teams. DC are coming off a defeat at the hands of CSK in their last game in Chennai. Their playoff hopes are slim as they will need to win all their remaining games and need other results to go in their favour if they are to qualify. (DC vs PBKS Live Score IPL 2023)

IPL 2023: Mukesh Kumar celebrates a wicket for DC. (AFP)

David Warner’s men have won four of their last six games but the five consecutive defeats at the start of the season have all but ended their playoff hopes. The batters were inconsistent once again in the last game as DC again lost wickets early and could not recover.

So far this season DC have lost to LSG, GT, RR, MI and RCB. They finally got their first win of the season against KKR in Delhi after five consecutive losses. Which was then followed by a win and a defeat against SRH. DC got back to winning ways, after the loss against SRH, to beat GT at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. They then beat RCB in Delhi but lost again in their previous game as the batters wilted under the pressure from the CSK bowlers and ended up 27 runs short of the 167-run target.

Salt and Marsh were both ineffective against CSK while Rossouw scored 35 but at less than a run a ball. The pattern has been the same for DC in a lot of games this season, the bowlers bowl well to restrict the opposition to a gettable score but the batters falter and DC end up second best.

Warner is the leading run-scorer this season with 330 runs with four half-centuries but his strike rate of 120 is a concern. Axar Patel has so far scored 267 runs this season. He is the only domestic batter to have made a notable contribution to the team's batting efforts so far. Phil Salt and Manish Pandey have also chipped in with 168 and 160 runs respectively.

Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav have picked up 18 wickets between them this season at an economy of under seven. Marsh is the top wicket-taker for the team with 12 scalps so far. Nortje has picked up 7 wickets. Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed have picked up 19 wickets between them. Anrich Nortje has missed the last couple of games as he went back to South Africa due to a personal emergency. It is yet unclear if he will be back for the next game.

Mukesh Sharma is expected to return to the team in place of Lalit Yadav. Yash Dhull, Prithvi Shaw, Pravin Dubey, Chetan Sakariya and Lalit Yadav are all Impact player options for DC.

DC’s predicted XI vs PBKS:

Openers: David Warner (c), Phil Salt (wk).

Middle Order: Aman Khan, Rilee Rossouw, Manish Pandey.

All-rounders: Axar Patel, Mitch Marsh.

Bowlers: Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed.

Impact Player: DC will utilise Yash Dhull, Prithvi Shaw, Pravin Dubey, Chetan Sakariya and Lalit Yadav for the Impact Player role.