IPL 2026 – RCB vs DC – Both teams unchanged as Delhi Capitals choose to bowl

Toss Delhi Capitals chose to bowl vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Axar’s decision went down well with his counterpart Rajat Patidar, who said RCB preferred to bat first. Axar reckoned the Chinnaswamy pitch would continue to favour the chasing team. In IPL 2026, the chasing team has won two of the three matches played so far at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Against Chennai Super Kings earlier this month, RCB had also won after batting first and posting 250 for 3.

DC were unchanged from the previous game in Chennai on April 11, when they lost to CSK. This meant that Jammu & Kashmir seamer Auqib Nabi retained his spot in the team though he had a fairly low-key debut. He bowled just two overs last week at Chepauk for no wickets while conceding 17 runs. He then managed 4 with the bat from No.8. He was listed at No.7 in DC’s bowl-first XI. But Ashutosh Sharma is the likeliest player to come in from the Impact Subs bench when DC chase later in the day.

RCB were also unchanged from their previous win against Lucknow Super Giants. Seamer Rasikh Salam Dar is likely to slot in as the Impact Sub, in place of one of the specialist batters, when they bowl. It remains to be seen whether Virat Kohli, who played as an Impact Sub for the first time in his career against LSG, makes way for Rasikh.

Kohli was not part of RCB’s bowling-first XI against LSG and he had been off the field during their match against Mumbai Indians last Sunday. He later said that he had experienced soreness in his knee, and had been under the weather in the lead-up to the game against LSG on Wednesday.

Saturday’s match was RCB’s 100th at the Chinnaswamy in the IPL, exactly 19 years after they had played their first. A victory today will take RCB top of the table.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Tim David, 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Suyash Sharma, 11 Josh Hazlewood

Impact Subs bench: Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jordan Cox, , Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal

Delhi Capitals: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Sameer Rizvi, 4 Axar Patel (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Auqib Nabi, 8 Lungi Ngidi, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 T Natarajan, 11 Mukesh Kumar

Impact Subs bench: Vipraj Nigam, Ashutosh Sharma, Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, Nitish Rana

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