Revealed: Why is Kuldeep Yadav not playing today’s match vs CSK and who has replaced him?

Delhi Capitals (DC) will be without their spin spearhead Kuldeep Yadav for the crucial game against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday (March 31).

The national capital-based outfit has started its campaign in IPL 2024 on a poor note. They have lost both of their first two games in the ongoing competition. In their first game of the tournament, they could not defend 173 runs against Punjab Kings and lost the game by four wickets.

It was followed by a 12-run defeat against Rajasthan Royals earlier this week as the Rishabh Pant-led side could not chase down 186. DC are one of the only two teams who are yet to get off the mark in IPL 2024 and will be desperate to win the game against CSK tonight.

Kuldeep Yadav not available:

However, DC will have to do it without their star spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Captain Rishabh Pant confirmed the news at the toss and also revealed the reason behind it. The wicketkeeper-batsman stated that Kuldeep Yadav would miss the game against CSK due to a niggle. Ishant Sharma has returned to the playing eleven after missing the last game due to an ankle injury.

“We’ll bat first. Wicket looks good, we want to use it as a batting track, put runs on the board. (On playing home games in Vizag) I think it makes a lot of difference, but we practiced here. We came here and got 10 days at this wicket. Two changes – Kuldeep had a niggle, Prithvi Shaw comes in. Ricky Bhui is out, Ishant Sharma comes in,” said Rishabh Pant.

In the last two games, Kuldeep Yadav picked up three wickets. He conceded only 20 runs and picked up 2 wickets against PBKS. The left-arm spinner was expensive against the Royals as he gave away 41 runs and claimed one wicket.

Playing XIs:

CSK:

Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni(w), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Mustafizur Rahman

DC:

Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed