IPL 2025: No Faf du Plessis as DC win toss and elect to bowl first against unchanged MI

After winning the toss, DC skipper Axar Patel, while receiving a roaring applause from the home crowd, said Faf du Plessis is injured and that the side will decide on their choice of the impact player during the game. Du Plessis, DC's vice-captain, had previously missed the game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after being deemed unfit for taking part in that game.

“We're chasing well, and it's the first match over here this season so don't know how the pitch will play. Don't trust numbers from the past too much. The challenge is to follow the plan properly and to be brave even if you get hit for a six,” he said.

Hardik Pandya, skipper of ninth-ranked MI, said his playing eleven is unchanged. “Conversations are about where we are making mistakes. There's no lack of experience in this group. We're not far from having a good game. We're trying not to hit the panic button. Panicking doesn't help. We don't have much margin of error; hope everything comes good tonight.”

Sunday’s game will be played on the centre pitch at the venue, with the square boundaries being at 60m and 66m respectively, while down the ground boundary stands at 72m. Murali Kartik and Danny Morrison, during the pitch report, mentioned the pitch has lots of visible cracks, which meant it may not play like the flat nature seen during last year’s games.

Playing XIs

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

Impact Substitutes: Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreira, and Dushmantha Chameera

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (captain), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, and Jasprit Bumrah

Impact Substitutes: Karn Sharma, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, and Robin Minz