Focus on incoming South Africans as Delhi Capitals aim to bounce back against Gujarat Titans

Gujarat Titans started their title defence in style on Friday night, overcoming the loss of Kane Williamson through injury to gun down a target of 180 against Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad. Tuesday's game in Delhi presents a new challenge for them: their first time as the visiting team during a full home-and-away IPL season.

They will come up against a Delhi Capitals side who were underwhelming in a heavy defeat on Saturday night. They lacked penetration with the ball, were sloppy in the field, and couldn't cope with Mark Wood's pace. Ricky Ponting will want a response in their first home game since 2019.

Both sides are waiting to see if their South Africans will be available: David Miller, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje were on the same flights from Johannesburg to Delhi, via Dubai, after cruising to victory over the Netherlands on Sunday night, and should be ready to play if their teams require.

The Titans are likely to bring Miller into their side, with Williamson's season-ending knee injury only prompting a slight reshuffle. If they stick with a similar balance, trusting Sai Sudharsan to continue at No. 3, then both of their overseas quicks - Alzarri Joseph and Josh Little - will keep their spots.

The Capitals may be slightly more reluctant to take a risk on either fast bowler after long-haul journeys - though Nortje's pace would offer them a point of difference with the ball, and he could prove too tempting an option to leave out. To fit him in, Delhi would have to leave out one of their overseas batters, with Rilee Rossouw the most likely omission.

Possible bat-first XI: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 David Warner (capt), 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Sarfaraz Khan (wk), 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Aman Khan, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Mukesh Kumar/Chetan Sakariya

If the Capitals bat first, Khaleel Ahmed could come off the bench to replace a specialist batter. If Nortje plays, he will replace a domestic seamer in the XI and a domestic batter like Manish Pandey or Lalit Yadav would replace an overseas batter.

Possible bowl-first XI: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 David Warner (capt), 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Sarfaraz Khan (wk), 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Aman Khan, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Anrich Nortje, 10 Mukesh Kumar/Chetan Sakariya, 11 Khaleel Ahmed.

Khaleel will likely start if the Capitals bowl first, with a domestic batter replacing him once he completes his spell.

Possible bat-first XI: 1 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Sai Sudharsan, 4 Hardik Pandya (capt), 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 David Miller, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Josh Little, 11 Mohammed Shami.

The arrival of Miller means that the Titans will probably bat one spot deeper than their previous game, with Rahul Tewatia carded to come in at No. 7.

Possible bowl-first XI: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Hardik Pandya (capt), 4 Vijay Shankar, 5 David Miller, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Alzarri Joseph, 9 Josh Little, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Yash Dayal/R Sai Kishore.

The Titans will have a wealth of options available if they bowl first, with Sudharsan potentially starting on the bench again, and replacing one of their bowlers in the run chase.

Tuesday's match will be the first time an IPL fixture has been staged in Delhi since May 2021. The average first-innings score here since the start of IPL 2019 is 170, with three bat-first wins, seven chasing wins, and one game which went to a Super Over.

"Shubman has been outstanding. Even before coming here, he was batting so well. I think he's one of the top players right now in the country."
Vijay Shankar hopes Gill can extend his excellent recent form.

"Obviously at this level, pressure is different, but then the poor guy has just kept 20 overs; you can't pass a judgement on him so quickly."
Sourav Ganguly, the Capitals director of cricket, urges fans not to rush to judgement over Sarfaraz Khan's wicketkeeping.