Lucknow, March 31
Delhi Capitals pace spearhead Dushmantha Chameera, on Tuesday, expressed confidence ahead of his team's Indian Premier League 2026 encounter against Lucknow Super Giants, citing focused preparations and positive team morale.
The Delhi-based franchise will play its campaign opener against the Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday, April 1. During the IPL auction last year, the Sri Lankan speedster Chameera was retained by Delhi for Rs 75 Lakh.
"We've had a good few days of preparation, including two practice games. The boys are in a good space right now," Chameera said during a pre-match press conference.
"So far this season, we've seen that home teams have won all three matches. We expect them (LSG) to come hard at us. That said, we've prepared well over the past few days, and we have a lot of experienced players in our squad, so we're confident of putting in a strong performance tomorrow," the Capitals pacer Chameera added.
Chameera also acknowledged Lucknow's strong batting lineup, which features key players such as captain Rishabh Pant, Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, and Mitchell Marsh.
When asked about DC's strategy against LSG's batters, the pacer said the bowling unit had held detailed discussions and devised specific plans for each of the opposition's key hitters.
"We've had detailed discussions within the bowling group and have specific plans for each batter. Players like Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh at the top are in good form and have performed really well recently. On these kinds of wickets, execution is key for fast bowlers, so our focus is on being precise with our plans," the 34-year-old added.
On workload management as a fast bowler, Chammeera said, "Fast bowling is a demanding job, and compared to others, fast bowlers are more prone to injuries. So it's important for us to stay on top of our fitness, strength, and conditioning, and take good care of our bodies."
Lucknow Super Giants Squad for IPL 2026:
Rishabh Pant (captain), Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Arshin Kulkarni, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Maharaj Singh, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Arjun Sachin Tendulkar, Mayank Prabhu Yadav, Wanindu Hasaranga, Anrich Nortje, Josh Inglis, Abdul Samad, Himmat Singh, Naman Tiwari, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Mohsin Khan, Manimaran Siddharth, Mukul Choudhary.
Delhi Capitals squad for IPL 2026:
Abishek Porel, KL Rahul, Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel (captain), Ashutosh Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Tripurana Vijay, David Miller, Auqib Nabi Dar, Pathum Nissanka, Lungi Ngidi, Prithvi Shaw, Kyle Jamieson, Ajay Jadav Mandal, T Natarajan, Madhav Tiwari, Karun Nair, Sahil Parakh.
- ANI
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