Gearing up: Super Giants will be keen to begin with a win.
| Photo Credit: PTI
How Delhi Capitals will fill the void left by Rishabh Pant’s absence has been one of the biggest questions ahead of the 16th season of the IPL. That will be answered — at least partially — on Saturday when Capitals take on Lucknow Super Giants at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cricket Stadium here.
It could be part-timer Sarfaraz Khan or new recruit Abishek Porel, according to coach Ricky Ponting. Capitals also have to deal with the absence of the South African pace duo of Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi, who are on national duty. Capitals will have to depend on Indian seam options, which include Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Ishant Sharma and Mukesh Kumar, while for spin there are Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel.
When it comes to batting, in skipper David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, the in-form Mitchell Marsh, Rovman Powell, Rilee Rossouw, Phil Salt and Manish Pandey, Capitals have a problem of plenty.
As for the Lucknow batting, it has to cope with the absence of Quinton de Kock, so there will be more responsibility on the likes of skipper K.L. Rahul, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis and Krunal Pandya. For wickets, the host will look to the likes of Mark Wood, Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan.