Delhi Capitals suffered a major setback ahead of their clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru as Mitchell Starc was once again left out of the playing XI.
The long-awaited arrival of the Australian left-arm pacer had raised expectations among fans, especially with him set to face his former franchise. However, despite joining the DC camp, Starc was not included in the XI or even the Impact Player list for the match.
Starc was widely expected to replace Lungi Ngidi, who suffered a head injury in the previous game. However, a medical directive from Cricket Australia has ruled him out of action until May 1.
Delhi Capitals’ Director of Cricket, Venugopal Rao, confirmed the development earlier, stating:
“Cricket Australia has given a report. From May 1 onwards (against Rajasthan Royals), he is available. We will wait and see the combination.”
The decision adds to ongoing discussions around Cricket Australia’s cautious approach to player workload management in IPL 2026, with similar restrictions earlier placed on Cameron Green.
Playing XIs
Delhi Capitals
Sahil Parakh, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Axar Patel (c), Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Kyle Jamieson
Impact Players: Auqib Nabi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, T Vijay, Abishek Porel
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar
