When Rishabh Pant enters Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi today, the atmosphere will be a bit changed. This time he is the captain of Lucknow Super Giants instead of Delhi Capitals and will play a match for the first time in IPL 2025. There is a lot of difference between when he was the captain of Delhi and now. Some old teammates and some new gun players are now in Delhi and are capable of making Delhi Capitals win on their own. One player deals only in sixes.
Left-handed all-rounder captain Akshar Patel proved to be the X factor for the team last season. He is capable of scoring lots of runs in less balls and hunting the world's best batsmen with his swinging balls. There are very few occasions when he fails in both departments. Therefore, it is expected that he will definitely give a big blow to Lucknow in some department or the other. Recently, he has proved to be more dangerous for the opponents with his bat.
Jake Fraser McGurk
Australian player Jake Fraser McGurk will be seen opening. He batted brilliantly last season and hit 32 fours and 28 sixes while scoring 330 runs. His strike rate was more than 234. As long as he is on the field, hardly anyone can stop the flow of runs.
Mitchell Starc
Despite making Kolkata Knight Riders the champion last season, Mitchell Starc's price has fallen a bit, but despite this, everyone knows what he can do. The left-handed pacer is no less than death for any batsman in the world. If Starc is at his peak, then this match will be like a nightmare for the batsmen of Lucknow. He must have understood the pitch of Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi while practicing.
Kuldeep Yadav
'Chinaman' Kuldeep Yadav has regained his old edge ever since he joined Delhi Capitals. He will directly play for Delhi after creating havoc in the final of the Champions Trophy. Rishabh Pant is his old captain. However, if he is playing in the opposition team, he would not want to let Pant play aggressively under any circumstances. Kuldeep is capable of doing anything with his swinging balls. Now it has to be seen how Pant's team avoids him.
Ashutosh Sharma
Ashutosh Sharma, who played for Punjab Kings last season, is now playing for Delhi. Last season, he had 189 runs to his name, but he was impressed with his hard hitter batting. He hit 10 fours, but hit more than that, 15 sixes. Now it remains to be seen what wonders he does this season. He can be a match finisher in the slog overs.
