Predicted DC Playing XI vs RR: Lungi Ngidi unavailable, Mitchell Starc to play first IPL 2026 match

The wind was blowing on April 27 in Delhi. Unrelated to the weather, the Delhi Capitals (DC) were also blown away by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The home team was 8/6 at one point. They registered the lowest powerplay total but, due to Abishek Porel’s fightback, somehow managed to score 75 runs. Naturally, the total wasn’t enough as RCB chased down the target in just 6.3 overs.

“I still don’t understand what happened,” DC captain Axar Patel said after the game ended in 23 overs. Perhaps forgetting the match is the right approach for Delhi. Because remembering it will do them no good. They need to regroup and get back on track if they wish to qualify for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Playoffs.

No Lungi Ngidi vs RR

Now, it won’t be easy. Lungi Ngidi still isn’t available for selection. DC has to follow the International Cricket Council (ICC) instructions, which forbid a player from taking the field for one week after they are diagnosed with a concussion. Ngidi missed the RCB match and won’t be able to enter the field against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) either.

Lungi Ngidi had sustained a head injury while taking a catch on April 25 in Delhi | Image Credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup via Alamy

Mitchell Starc to replace Kyle Jamieson

But there’s a little positive as well. Mitchell Starc will play his first match of the season on May 1 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Cricket Australia (CA) hadn’t permitted the tall pacer to play a competitive match until the end of April. Due to this, DC wasn’t able to select him for the Punjab Kings match on April 25 and the RCB game on April 27. The restriction period is now over, and DC can finally field him.

In the last game, Delhi had replaced Pathum Nissanka with teenager Sahil Parakh. He should continue to open with KL Rahul, considering Delhi will wipe the RCB game out of their memory. Similarly, Mukesh Kumar was dropped after a couple of bad games. However, since Starc will come in, DC will need to drop a foreign player. Kyle Jamieson, who was the only wicket-taker for Delhi, will have to sit out since Dushmantha Chameera is a better all-phase bowler and Starc will take the new ball.

Predicted DC Playing XI vs RR

S. No.PlayerRole

1	KL Rahul (wk)	Wicketkeeper opener
2	Sahil Parakh	Opener
3	Nitish Rana	Top-order batter
4	Sameer Rizvi	Middle-order batter
5	Tristan Stubbs	Middle-order batter
6	David Miller	Middle-order batter
7	Axar Patel (c)	All-rounder
8	Mitchell Starc	Left-arm fast bowler
9	Kuldeep Yadav	Left-arm wrist spinner
10	T Natarajan	Left-arm fast bowler
11	Dushmantha Chameera	Right-arm fast bowler
Impact Player	Vipraj Nigam/ Auqib Nabi/ Ashutosh Sharma/ Mukesh Kumar/ Abhishek Porel

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