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Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians face each other at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi today in what is a blockbuster second-game fixture for both sides.

Both teams come in with identical records, one win each from their respective openers, and both will be desperate to go to two from two. DC beat Lucknow Super Giants in a gritty away victory, while MI broke their infamous 14-year opening-match curse with a dominant chase of 220 plus against KKR at the Wankhede. Something has to give this afternoon in Delhi.

Why Hardik Pandya is not playing today's DC vs MI game

The big news from the MI camp is the absence of captain Hardik Pandya, who has been ruled out of today's game due to illness. Suryakumar Yadav has stepped up to lead the side in Hardik's absence.

Speaking at the toss SKY kept it brief and positive, "He's not well. Just getting into his shoes today. There's a lot of positivity in the game." It is the kind of setback any team can do without, particularly given how well MI looked in their opener, but the presence of Suryakumar as captain and the overall quality of the squad means MI are far from diminished even without their regular skipper.

What Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel said at the toss

Delhi under captain Axar Patel won the toss and had no hesitation in choosing to bowl first. "First game at home, we want to see how it plays," he said, keeping his reasoning simple and clear.

He also drew confidence from the way his side fought back in their opener against LSG, referencing the stunning recovery from 26 for 4 to chase down the target as proof that this DC side has real character when their backs are against the wall. Delhi go unchanged from the side that won in Lucknow, sticking with the same combination that delivered their first win of the season.

Suryakumar Yadav, standing in for the unwell Hardik Pandya, was relaxed and upbeat despite the captaincy coming to him at short notice. He noted that the toss was essentially irrelevant given that both teams wanted exactly what they got, DC wanted to bowl and MI wanted to bat.

"There's a lot of positivity in the game," he said, deflecting attention away from Hardik's absence with characteristic composure. MI have made three changes from their opening game, Mitchell Santner comes in for Allag Ghazanfar, Deepak Chahar replaces Trent Boult (who is part of impact player list) and Corbin Bosch comes in for Boult as well, giving the side a slightly different look to what we saw against KKR at the Wankhede.

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DC vs MI: Playing XIs and impact players

Delhi Capitals: KL Rahul (wk), Pathum Nissanka, Nitish Rana, Axar Patel (c), Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Vipraj Nigam, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar.

Impact: Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi Dar, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Naman Dhir, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.

Impact: Mayank Markande, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar

DC vs MI: Where both teams stand coming into this IPL 2026 game

DC under Axar Patel have looked defensively solid from the outset. Their spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Axar himself remains their most potent weapon and moving to the flatter tracks of Arun Jaitley Stadium suits their bowling philosophy perfectly.

The middle-order grit they showed in Lucknow, coming back from 26 for 4 to chase down the target, speaks to a team with real character under pressure. Mumbai Indians on the other hand look like a team finding their rhythm at exactly the right time.

Batting depth is genuinely frightening, Rohit and Rickelton put on 148 against KKR, Bumrah is back and looking sharp, and the addition of Mitchell Santner for today's game strengthens their spin department considerably after Ghazanfar's difficult debut. Two unbeaten teams, a flat Delhi pitch and a full house at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, this one has all the ingredients.