Delhi Capitals pacer Dushmantha Chameera expressed confidence ahead of their IPL 2026 clash against Lucknow Super Giants, citing focused preparations and a positive team environment. The match is set to take place at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, April 1.
Chameera, who was picked up in the 2025 mega-auction, was retained by DC for INR 75 lakh ahead of the 19th season. The Capitals had finished fifth in the previous edition, narrowly missing out on a playoff spot, and will be aiming for a stronger campaign this year.
“We’ve had a good few days of preparation, including two practice games. The boys are in a good space right now. 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 strong performance tomorrow,” said Chameera during a pre-match press conference.
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The right-arm pacer also acknowledged LSG’s strong batting lineup, featuring Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, and Matthew Breetzke. Chameera admitted that the DC bowling unit has held detailed discussions and formulated specific plans to counter each of the opposition’s key batters.
“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,” said Chameera.
“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,” he added.
Delhi Capitals IPL 2026 squad:
Axar Patel (Captain), KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, T. Natarajan, Tristan Stubbs, Auqib Nabi, Mukesh Kumar, Nitish Rana, Pathum Nissanka, Abishek Porel, Ashutosh Sharma, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chameera, Prithvi Shaw, Karun Nair, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Ajay Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Sahil Parakh, Vihaan Malhotra, Kyle Jamieson
