DC vs KKR Playing XI and Toss News, IPL 2026: No Surprises from KKR after opting to field, Capitals name two changes

DC have kept two spinners and two fast bowlers in the line-up. There are two changes, as Mukesh Kumar replaces T Natarajan while Vipraj replaces Karun Nair.

Check out what Axar Patel said:

“It doesn’t matter we bowl or bat first. It always better to put runs on the board. Two changes for us for today. In the Delhi wicket, the spinners get very little help and pacers will get a bit if they bowl slower deliveries. That is the reason we are going with 3 spinners and pacers.”

The Kolkata Knight Riders have won the toss and have opted to bowl first. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane has revealed that there are no changes in the line-up.

Check out what he said at the toss:

“We will bowl first. In the last three games, It’s important to see the wicket and play accordingly. It’s difficult to read the wicket; we have to play good cricket. When we had a break, the mood was great and the players are doing well.”

We are just ten minutes away from the toss. Who will have the early advantage tonight? We will get to know once the toss goes up and the away captain calls for it.

The young Angkrish Raghuvanshi is expected to play an anchor role tonight with the bat in the top order for KKR. He has played a key role in the past, and is gradually building confidence. The next few games would be crucial for the side to build himseld up under pressure situations as the Knight s have to win all their matches.

“Got a few things in a spot where I can manage and still feel like I can execute what I need to. It took me sort of the first game to get up to speed with T20 again, but third game for me, and hopefully we can change a bit of our momentum as well. Oh, easy to say coming from a 36-year-old with some experience, but I just feel like I got to a place where I could, you know, if I make sure I tick all the boxes of things that I feel like I need to execute skill-wise, I’ve always kind of had that fitness side where I feel like I know what I need to get my body right from a fitness perspective in terms of the gym and the running and time on legs. I could do what I needed to do in terms of T20 cricket with the execution of yorkers, the different skill sets over four overs, not so much the workload side of things, but more about executing the different balls required in this format of the game,” Starc said ahead of the game.

David Miller has the capacity to bring an impact in the competition, and the Delhi Capitals would bring him back, given that they now have a must-win situation at hand.

It only makes sense, as the Capitals are struggling in the middle order, and he could play an impactful role.

“This is Pitch Six, the surface Delhi specifically requested. When they played Punjab here, there was significantly more grass, but that was also a day game. Interestingly, Delhi’s best performances on this strip have all come under the sun. Looking at it now, the grass has vanished. To be honest, it looks barren. The soil is so incredibly packed down it feels almost ‘glued’ together, yet you can see dry cracks starting to open up. I don’t expect much seam movement or extra bounce. It looks like it will play slow, favouring spin bowlers and ‘pace-off’ deliveries,” Katie Martin said during the broadcast.

“We are in the capital city tonight, and make no mistake, Delhi desperately needs a win. They have struggled at home, losing four of their last five on this ground. The silver lining? Their lone victory came on this very strip. They also posted a massive 264/2 against Punjab here—though we’outside the leg-stump conveniently forget for a moment that they actually lost that game! Despite the mixed results, they do have some high-scoring memories here,” Nick Knight said while examining the pitch.

The middle-order has been the Capitals’ biggest flaw, and they might make some changes to strengthen the side tonight. The most likely adjustment is in the middle order, where Abishek Porel could replace Vipraj Nigam.

The top-order has been stable with the likes of KL Rahul and Nitish Rana, while Pat Cummins leads the pace attack. Axar and Kuldeep would be clinical in terms of spin.

DC vs KKR Predicted Playing XIs

Delhi Capitals Probable Playing XI: KL Rahul (wk), Pathum Nissanka, Karun Nair, Tristan Stubbs, Nitish Rana, Axar Patel (c), Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, T Natarajan.

Sameer Rizvi: Impact Player

Kolkata Knight Riders Probable Playing XI: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Finn Allen: Impact Player

One of KKR’s biggest investments in the 2026 mini auction is yet to make his debut after his delayed arrival at the camp. Matheesha Pathirana looks too good to go for action, but the team is very cautious with his injury-prone calf.

Moreover, after three consecutive wins, it looks rather unlikely for Pathirana to play tonight as the team wouldn’t want to change the line-up.

DC vs KKR Full Squads

Delhi Capitals Squad: Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul(w), Nitish Rana, Karun Nair, Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, T Natarajan, Vipraj Nigam, Abishek Porel, Auqib Nabi Dar, David Miller, Dushmantha Chameera, Kyle Jamieson, Rehan Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prithvi Shaw, Tripurana Vijay, Sahil Parakh, Madhav Tiwari.

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rinku Singh, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra, Blessing Muzarabani, Matheesha Pathirana, Rahul Tripathi, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Saurabh Dubey, Umran Malik, Daksh Kamra.

The DC vs KKR match will be getting underway at 7:30 pm IST, with the toss taking place half an hour earlier.

The Lucknow Super Giants vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru match will take place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

We will be bringing you the latest updates on toss and team changes on the DC vs KKR match. Stay tuned for more updates.