05 May,2026 09:31 AM IST | New Delhi | Neeru Bhatia
Munaf Patel
The Delhi weather has been swinging between hot and cool over the last few days with the Met department predicting thundershowers till Tuesday. Hosts Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings though will hope for a smooth passage of play at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here today. The two teams are currently in the middle of the pack, with very little separating them, and both will be looking to garner some much-needed points to rise in the table.
CSK, placed sixth, and DC, placed seventh, both have eight points after winning four and losing five out of nine games; the only thing separating them is net run-rate (CSK 0.005 and DC -0.895).
DC bowling coach Munaf Patel said winning is the only option now, "You don't have any other option but to win the match. Obviously, we play every match to win, but now the relaxed mode is over. If you want to qualify, you have to win all the matches. All bowlers are fit, [pacer] Lungi [Ngidi] is 100 per cent fit," he said.
Earlier in the tournament, CSK beat DC in Chennai by 23 runs on April 11. MS Dhoni continues to remain unavailable.
CSK bowling coach Eric Simmons confirmed that Dhoni hasn't travelled with the team: "An update on MS Dhoni is way above my pay grade. He's not with us, but steadily improving. He hasn't travelled with the team."
All eyes will be on 20-year-old Kartik Sharma, who scored an unbeaten half-century as CSK beat Mumbai Indians by eight wickets at Chepauk recently. DC are also on a high, having beaten Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur by seven wickets. The return of ace pacer Mitchell Starc against RR was a major boost for DC. Starc, who was sidelined with shoulder and elbow injuries, joined DC more than a month after the tournament began and made an immediate impact, picking up 3-40 in his four-over spell.
