IPL 2018, Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab: DD field, Chris Gayle misses out

Delhi Daredevils opted to field after winning the toss against Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi on Monday. (DD vs KXIP IPL 2018 LIVE UPDATES)

Chris Gayle will not play the match after experiencing a bit of soreness after the last match against Kolkata Knight Riders and South Africa batsman David Miller will replace him in the KXIP squad. (DD vs KXIP IPL 2018 LIVE SCORECARD)

“We aren’t sure to be honest of how the surface will behave. Our first time here and it’s quite tough to decide. Chris Gayle goes out and Aaron Finch will open the batting. The big man is a bit sore and it gives Aaron up the order a bit of a chance. Have to see how it goes in the game,” KXIP skipper Ravichandran Ashwin said at the toss.

Delhi Daredevils have also made a number of changes to their squad as Dan Christian and pacer Liam Plunkett are included in the squad and they will replace the injured Chris Morris and Jason Roy. India’s ICC U-19 World Cup winning captain Prithvi Shaw will be making his debut for the franchise while veteran spinner Amit MIshra and pacer Avesh Khan were also included in the team.

These two teams have already met each other in this year’s Indian Premier League and Kings XI Punjab emerged victorious in that contest. KL Rahul was the wrecker-in-chief for KXIP as he slammed the fastest century in IPL history (14 balls) to guide his team to victory in the tournament opener.

When it comes to head-to-head record, Kings XI Punjab hold a slight advantage over Delhi Daredevils as they have won 11 out of their 20 clashes. However, at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium, DD have made their home advantage count with 5 wins from the 9 matches they have played against KXIP.

This will be first match for DD at their home ground after playing five away matches in a row and skipper Gautam Gambhir will surely be looking to stop his team’s losing run in the competition. They have won just once in IPL 2018 and are currently languishing in the bottom spot of the points table.

On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab have dominated with their bat and thanks to explosive knocks by Chris Gayle and KL Rahul, they are currently on a three-match winning streak. Their only defeat in the competition came against Royal Challengers Bangalore but the turnaround has been brilliant for Ashwin’s side and they are second in the points table behind Chennai Super Kings.

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul(w), Aaron Finch, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh, David Miller, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Barinder Sran, Ankit Rajpoot, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Delhi Daredevils (Playing XI): Gautam Gambhir (capt), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Prithvi Shaw, Dan Christian, Rahul Tewatia, Liam Plunkett, Shahbaz Nadeem, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult