Nicholas Pooran not playing: Punjab Kings have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI for this match against Delhi Capitals.
Advertisement
During the 29th match of the ongoing 14th season of the Indian Premier League between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Ahmedabad, Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant has won the toss and chose to field.
“We are going to bowl first. We are doing good as a team. We are trying to focus on things, we just try to learn from our game and move forward. I am enjoying every bit of it [captaincy],” Pant told Star Sports at the toss.
Being asked about the changes made to their Playing XI, Pant mentioned that they will be taking the field with the same XI which played against Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday.
All smiles before Round 2 of the #NorthernDerby 🤜🏼💥🤛🏼
Are you ready for #PBKSvDC? ❤️💙#YehHaiNayiDilli #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/gGIFhaaeax
— Delhi Capitals (Stay Home. Wear Double Masks😷) (@DelhiCapitals) May 2, 2021
Why is Nicholas Pooran not playing vs Delhi Capitals?
Punjab Kings, who will be without their captain and highest run-scorer of this season Lokesh Rahul in this match, have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI. Apart from replacing Rahul with opening batsman and stand-in captain Mayank Agarwal, PBKS have also handed a debut to England batsman Dawid Malan.
No. 1 ranked T20I batsmen in MRF Tyres ICC rankings, Malan will be making his debut in the IPL at the Narendra Modi Stadium tonight. In 228 T20s, the 33-year old player has scored 6,265 runs at an average and strike rate of 33.32 and 128.40 respectively.
In the shortest format at the highest level, Malan’s 1,003 runs have come at 50.15 and 144.31 respectively. Malan, who has scored a century and 10 half-centuries in 24 T20I innings for England, would be hoping to carry forward the same form in his IPL debut.
In six IPL innings this season, Pooran has scored a total of 28 runs at a paltry average and strike rate of 4.66 and 84.84 respectively. In his last five innings, Pooran has returned scores of 0, 19, 0, 9 and 0. With Malan waiting on the bench for all this while, this swap isn’t surprising.
“We’re going to miss him [Lokesh Rahul] but it is what it is. I can hope that it gets a little lower and slower as the game goes on but it’s good to set a target and then defend it. Really looking forward to the responsibility, we’ve spoken about going out and playing aggressively with smiles on our faces,” Agarwal told Star Sports at the toss.
