Delhi Capitals, having won their IPL 2022 opener against Mumbai Indians in thrilling fashion, will hope to carry on the good work when they take on newcomers Gujarat Titans in Pune on Saturday.

The Titans should not be short on confidence either as they too had emerged victorious in their first game, against Lucknow Super Giants. However, both the teams will expect better work from their top order, after they were bailed out by their respective middle-orders in their first game.

Delhi will have to wait for one more match before they can unleash their star opener David Warner. The Australian is likely to be available from their third match. In Warner’s absence, the onus will be on Prithvi Shaw to provide a good start to his team. It will be interesting to see if they continue with Tim Seifert as Shaw’s opening partner or rejig their line-up a bit on Saturday.

The Titans’ top order depends heavily on Shubman Gill. The youngster flopped in the first game of the season. Besides Gill, Matthew Wade and Vijay Shankar, who complete the team’s top three, will have to bat with more responsibility. Expecting Rahul Tewatia in the middle order to fire in every game is a risky idea. Captain Hardik Pandya too will need to be at his best if they are to overcome the challenge of a strong team like Delhi.

The team from Gujarat, however, enjoy a definite edge over Delhi in the bowling department. They have an in-form Mohammed Shami threatening to run through rival top orders, a champion spinner in Rashid Khan and the fiery pace of Lockie Ferguson. The Delhi attack was not very impressive in their first game, with Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel leaking runs. But chinaman Kuldeep Yadav had a good game and captain Rishabh Pant will be banking on him.

Pant himself will be eager to be at his destructive best with the bat after having a quiet outing in the last game. Delhi will also hope that the availability of Lungi Ngidi and Mustafizur Rahman gives them more strength in bowling.