Delhi Capitals have had an erratic run in the last few games in the ongoing IPL season, with just two wins and four losses and need to tidy up a bit, especially in the batting department, to be able to push for that spot in the playoffs. Faf du Plessis returned to the side and the fifty in the last game would keep him in good stead to build upon that while Abishek Porel, Karun Nair and KL Rahul all have had one or two good innings but haven't really been consistent.
There has been a lot of talking and planning done since the loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders and the batters will be keen to get out and play on that wicket in Hyderabad, which is also one of the venues for the playoffs. Looking at a few matches in the last week or so, the Capitals might need to bring back Jake Fraser-McGurk into the line-up. Fraser-McGurk might not be in the best of form but if he fires, he can get the Capitals off to a good start and then the likes of Porel, Rahul, Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs can take care of the rest.
It will be unfortunate for Karun Nair, but if Fraser-McGurk has to come in, the veteran Indian batter will have to vacate that spot. In the bowling department, even though Dushmantha Chameera has been a decent addition, it is time for the Capitals to have T Natarajan in the bowling attack.
Natarajan was paid the big bucks and having played so much of his IPL cricket at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, the SRH game on Monday would not be a bad time for the Capitals to have the services of the left-arm seamer. The Capitals are unlikely to leave out Mukesh Kumar, on whom they used an RTM on, hence, Chameera is likely to be the casualty.
The rest of the line-up picks itself and the Capitals, with the start they have had, have been averse to making too many changes.
Delhi Capitals' likely playing XI against SRH: Jake Fraser-McGurk/Karun Nair, Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (C), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Dushmantha Chameera/T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Ashutosh Sharma