Delhi Capitals bank on Starc fillip to arrest slide

Delhi Capitals began their IPL 2026 season with promise. A little past the midpoint, they are in Jaipur carrying the unease of drift. Few collapses sting like the kind they just endured at home: first hitting 264 against Punjab Kings and still losing, then folding for 75 two days later. Their rhythm has gone missing.

Help, in the form of Mitchell Starc, arrives at just about the right time. Cleared to return from May 1, his presence offers disruption from the inertia. Their hosts Rajasthan Royals are the side that recently handed table-toppers Punjab Kings their first defeat.

There is also a contest within the contest. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, all of 15, has met elite pace with startling composure. Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood have all been negotiated with calm. Starc presents a different examination. For Rajasthan, Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey finishing the job in Mullanpur suggests their batting may no longer end where it once did.

Delhi's questions run deeper than Starc. Their search for the right opening combination has begun to resemble restlessness. Sahil Parakh's debut lasted two balls. Abishek Porel showed spunk as an Impact substitute, but promoting him with KL Rahul would mean another shuffle.

When: RR vs DC, IPL 2026, May 1 at 19:30 IST

Where: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

What to expect: Jaipur will simmer under 40 degrees Celsius. The black-soil surfaces keep bounce on the lower side.

Head to Head: RR 15-15 DC. Their last meeting needed a Super Over.

Injuries/Availability: No new injuries to report.

Probable XII (RR): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Donovan Ferreira, Shubham Dubey, Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja/Ravi Bishnoi

Probable XII (DC): Sahil Parakh/Abishek Porel, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Axar Patel (c), Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, T. Natarajan, Vipraj Nigam/Auqib Nabi

Key stats:

• David Miller averages 77.8 and strikes at 164.13 against RR
• Yashasvi Jaiswal's 2472 runs puts him third among players with most IPL runs before turning 25
• Axar Patel with the bat in IPL 2026: 0, 2, 1, 26* (retd hurt), 2, 0

Quote: "I still cannot understand what happened (against RCB). Each day you have to be on your toes. You cannot take it easy for even one day." – Axar Patel