Delhi Capitals (DC) are set to play their final league game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Tuesday, May 14. Both teams are still in the hunt for the IPL 2024 playoffs and will want to get a win to keep their chances alive.
Delhi Capitals (DC) and Lucknow Super Giants(LSG) are in a tough spot ahead of their game on Tuesday. DC need to win big, and then hope an improbable sequence of other results falls in their favour to have a shot at finishing in the top four. It’s unlikely to happen, and their last league game is a chance to finish a disappointing campaign on a high at home.
DC vs LSG Previous Performances
The Capitals have won six out and lost seven out of the 13 matches they have played and are placed at No. 6 on the points table. Meanwhile, Lucknow have won six and lost as many out of the 12 games they have played and are stationed at No. 7 on the table. Rishabh Pant-led Capitals are coming into this clash on the back of a 47-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
On the other hand, KL Rahul and Co. suffered a hammering at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game, as they lost by 10 wickets. Rahul would want to inspire his troops to muster a comeback against Delhi. A loss would eliminate the Capitals (DC) from the competition. To keep their chances of reaching the playoffs alive, Delhi must beat Lucknow by a huge margin. Meanwhile, Lucknow (LSG) will be all but eliminated from the playoffs if they lose on Tuesday.
DC vs LSG Head to Head
3-1 to Lucknow. Incidentally, the win in the reverse fixture in Lucknow was Delhi’s first against LSG in three seasons. Kuldeep Yadav took 3 for 20 in Lucknow, dismissing KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran, as LSG were restricted to 167 for 7. The IPL then had its first sighting of Fraser-McGurk, who top-scored with 55 off 35 balls in DC’s six-wicket victory.
| Matches Played | 4 |
| Delhi Capitals won | 1 |
| Lucknow Super Giants Won | 3 |
DC vs LSG Pitch Report
The Capitals played their first two home games in Visakhapatnam before returning to their traditional home ground in Delhi. The Arun Jaitley Stadium has hosted four matches in IPL 2024 and 200-plus totals have been scored in seven out of eight innings. It just shows the kind of wickets that have been used at the venue. The average first innings score is 240. All four games have been won by teams batting first.
Another run-fest. The first innings average at the Arun Jaitley stadium has been 242 in IPL 2024. With both teams still chasing qualification, bowling first could be the way to go, whether or not dew will make an appearance. In the four matches at the Arun Jaitley Stadium so far, the team batting first has won after scoring 266 for 7, 224 for 4, 257 for 4 and 221 for 8, while the chasing team has responded with 199, 220 for 8, 247 for 9 and 201 for 8.
It’s a high-scoring venue with short straight boundaries and shorter square boundaries. The forecast is for a warm evening with temperatures in the mid 30 degree C range.
DC vs LSG Big picture: LSG, DC or neither
Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants are in a tough spot ahead of their game on Tuesday. DC need to win big, and then hope an improbable sequence of other results falls in their favour to have a shot at finishing in the top four. It’s unlikely to happen, and their last league game is a chance to finish a disappointing campaign on a high at home.
LSG have a better chance than DC of making the playoffs, but the huge defeats in their previous two games have severely damaged their net run rate and their prospects. They need a win in Delhi, and another in Mumbai to get to 16 points, and then hope Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad don’t make it to 16 as well because both those teams have far superior net run rates. Fourteen points will not be enough for LSG.
The challenge for LSG in Delhi is two fold. They are the second slowest batting side this season, scoring at 8.35 runs per over, so their batters will have to level up at the venue with the highest run rate (11.06) this season. LSG’s bowlers have also taken the fewest wickets in IPL 2024 – 57 in 12 innings, which is less than six per game on average – and they might have to do better than that to rein in Jake Fraser-McGurk and co.
Delhi have only themselves to blame for their fate, going down to RCB on Sunday evening despite having restricted them to a sub-par 187/9. While the bowlers helped stage a remarkable comeback in the second half of the innings, DC had let the game slip early with the two dropped chances each off RCB’s two top-scorers in the game.
Axar Patel led from the front, standing-in, but Delhi will be eager to welcome their regular captain Rishabh Pant back into the XI after serving a one-match suspension for the team’s third over-rate offence of the season – in the game against RR at home.
The spotlight would equally be on his counterpart with LSG playing their first game since KL Rahul was seen to be at the receiving end of an animated chat with the team owner after the big defeat in Hyderabad.
His intent in the PowerPlay has often come under scrutiny and along with Quinton de Kock’s indifferent form, mounted pressure on the misfiring middle-order. LSG could muster only 165 against SRH, and the home team’s in-form openers took just 9.4 overs to chase it down while severely denting LSG’s NRR that’s now the poorest (-0.769) among the three teams on 12 points.
Not only powerplays, where they have the second-lowest run-rate of 8.15 in IPL 2024, LSG have also fared poorly at the death – their last five-over average of 10.35 is the least among the ten teams. Incidentally, DC are no better, though, having fared only marginally above LSG in death overs at 10.65. DC have lost the most number of wickets – 27 – in Powerplays and have used the maximum number of players in their top-three (9), which was partly due to the number of injuries to hit their camp.
DC vs LSG Team news and Impact Player strategy
DC vs LSG In the spotlight: Fraser-McGurk and Rahul
Jake Fraser-McGurk has 330 runs this season, 296 of which have come in boundaries. His boundary percentage of 89.7 is the highest among batters with at least 300 runs in any T20 series across the world. He’s hit 33 boundaries in his first ten balls across eight innings, giving him the highest first-ten-ball strike rate (228) among batters with at least seven innings in an IPL season.
And with a cut-off of 75 runs each against fast bowlers and spinners, he’s the only batter to strike at 200-plus against both type of bowlers in any IPL season. Fraser-McGurk has made a sensational entrance in the IPL, and he will want to end the season in style too.
KL Rahul could do with some of that McGurk magic. He’s LSG’s top-scorer this season with 460 runs but his average of 38.33 is his lowest in a full season since 2015, and his strike rate of 136 pales in comparison to the pyrotechnics from several other openers in IPL 2024.
The lingering image of Rahul after the drubbing against SRH five days ago was the talking to he received from LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka. Rahul led LSG to the playoffs in their first two IPL seasons, but will have to turn his form around to give them the best chance of finishing in the top four once again.
DC vs LSG Vital Stats that matters
- DC have beaten LSG only once in four matches so far, but that win was the most recent fixture earlier this season.
- Pant has a strike rate of 184 against the left-arm spin of Krunal Pandya (70 runs off 38 balls) with three dismissals in ten innings. His T20 record isn’t as good against the leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi: 54 runs off 47 balls with two dismissals in six innings.
- Axar Patel could be an effective option against Rahul and Stoinis. Rahul has only 30 runs off 39 balls against Axar with two dismissals, while Stoinis’ record is worse: 22 off 38 balls with two dismissals as well. However, DC will want to keep Axar away from Pooran, who scores at a strike rate of 330.76 (43 off 13 balls) with no dismissals against him.
DC vs LSG Probable Playing XIs
Delhi Capitals:
David Warner, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abhishek Porel, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (C & WK), Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs, Rasikh Salam, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma
Impact substitute – Khaleel Ahmed
Lucknow Super Giants:
KL Rahul (C & WK), Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur
Impact substitute – Mohsin Khan
DC vs LSG Fantasy Playing XI : Jake Fraser-McGurk, Rahul (C & WK), Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Khaleel Ahmed
DC vs LSG Probable Best Performers of the Match
Probable Best Batter:
Jake Fraser-McGurk: The 22-year-old has made a phenomenal impression in his first IPL season. In eight matches, he has amassed 330 runs at an average of 41.25. However, what has stunned cricket enthusiasts is his jaw-dropping strike rate of 237.41 for the season. The youngster has smashed four half-centuries and if he clicks on Tuesday, LSG bowlers would be in for a tough time on a smallish ground.
Probable Best Bowler:
Khaleel Ahmed: The left-arm seamer started the season with some excellent performances but had a dry run in the middle. However, he bowled well against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the last game and would want to build on it against the Super Giants. In 13 matches, Khaleel has bagged 16 wickets at an average of 28.56 and a strike rate of 18. His spell with the new ball is going to be crucial for the Capitals.
DC vs LSG Match Prediction
Scenario 1
Delhi Capitals win the toss and bowl
Power Play score – 70-80
First Innings Score – 215-225
Lucknow Super Giants win the match
Scenario 2
Lucknow Super Giants win the toss and bowl
Power Play score – 80-90
First Innings Score – 225-235
Delhi Capitals win the match