Chennai, April 5: Delhi Capitals will be without the services of vice-captain Faf du Plessis as captain Axar Patel won the toss and elected to bat first against five-time champions Chennai Super Kings in match 17 of IPL 2025 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday.

DC, ranked second on the points table, come on the back of winning two consecutive games, while CSK, at ninth place, arrive at their home turf after losing two successive matches. After winning the toss, Axar said du Plessis, who hit a fifty in their clinical win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, isn’t fit for Saturday’s clash and has been replaced by Sameer Rizvi in the playing eleven.

With no du Plessis, KL Rahul has been slotted in the team sheet to open the batting alongside Jake Fraser-McGurk. “We are going to bat first as it feels like there'll be help for the bowlers. Expect it to get slower as the game progresses. In our team, we have a few players who have captained other franchises and that helps me a lot,” the all-rounder said.

CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, who took a blow on his elbow in the defeat to Rajasthan Royals and was doubtful of playing Saturday’s game, said Devon Conway (whose name got loud cheers from the crowd) and Mukesh Choudhary come in for Jamie Overton and Rahul Tripathi respectively.

“We were looking to bat as well. Looks a bit dry. It's a bit cloudy, won't change much. You always want momentum in T20 cricket. Overall, the chat has been positive. Fielding is something which we can improve day by day. We want to be proactive. Elbow is good,” he said.

Playing XIs

Chennai Super Kings: Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Khaleel Ahmed, and Matheesha Pathirana

Impact Substitutes: Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Shaik Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Nathan Ellis

Delhi Capitals: Jake Fraser-McGurk, KL Rahul (wk), Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel (captain), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohit Sharma

Impact Substitutes: Mukesh Kumar, Karun Nair, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreira, Tripurana Vijay

(IANS)

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