Bottom-of-the-table Delhi Capitals (DC) will take on the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the IPL 2023 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association stadium in Dharamsala on Wednesday. DC have lost their last two games and cannot qualify for the playoffs now and only have pride to play for in the remaining games. They will hope to win at least one of their remaining games to move off the bottom of the table.

David Warner’s men have been poor for most of the season with the batters letting the team down and DC not being able to put teams away while they are on top in the game. They have lost wickets in clumps throughout the season with a non-existent middle order.

So far this season DC have lost to LSG, GT, RR, MI and RCB. They finally got their first win of the season against KKR in Delhi after five consecutive losses. Which was then followed by a win and a defeat against SRH. DC got back to winning ways, after the loss against SRH, to beat GT at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. They then beat RCB in Delhi but lost again in their next game as the batters wilted under pressure from the CSK bowlers and ended up 27 runs short of the 167-run target. Against PBKS in Delhi, the bowlers once again did well to restrict Punjab to a gettable score but the batters capitulated as DC went from 68/0 to 88/6 and fell short of the target by 31 runs.

Warner is the leading run-scorer this season with 384 runs with four half-centuries but his strike rate has been low all season.

Axar Patel has so far scored 268 runs this season. He is the only domestic batter to have made a notable contribution to the team’s batting efforts so far.

Phil Salt and Manish Pandey have chipped in with 189 and 160 runs respectively. As a unit the DC batters have not been good enough this season and are one of the lowest scorers in the league according to statistics. Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz have had disappointing campaigns and there is a big chance of them being released after the season ends. The youngsters have not progressed as DC would have liked them to and the team will need to look for better prospects for future success.

Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav have picked up 20 wickets between them this season at an economy of under seven. Marsh is the top wicket-taker for the team with 12 scalps so far. Nortje has picked up 7 wickets. Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed have picked up 22 wickets between them.

Anrich Nortje has missed the last couple of games as he went back to South Africa due to a personal emergency. It is yet unclear if he will be back for the final two games of the season. Ripal Patel could replace Manish Pandey in the playing eleven.

Openers: David Warner (c), Phil Salt (wk).

Middle order: Aman Khan, Rilee Rossouw, Ripal Patel.

All-rounders: Axar Patel, Mitchell Marsh.

Bowlers: Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed.

Impact Player: Yash Dhull, Prithvi Shaw, Pravin Dubey, Chetan Sakariya and Lalit Yadav are all Impact player options for DC.