The 31st game of the IPL 2026 will be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals. The game is scheduled to be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.

Delhi Capitals would be coming into the game after a close win in the previous game and will look to get into the top 4 while Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to continue the good form at home.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have shown improvement in the previous games and particularly in the home games where they have won their previous 2 games. Sunrisers Hyderabad approach has been very aggressive in the batting part, which carries a lot of risks, as they are not able to post a decent total on the scoreboard. However, their young pace attack have chipped in at various situations, which are either in the powerplay or at the death, which gives the team some kind of balance. With the crowd cheering from the home ground, SRH will look to complete a hat-trick of wins at home ground. We can expect some important player to make a return into the team in the coming games.

Delhi Capitals have not been consistent at all in this edition of the Indian Premier League. The Axar Patel led team, which has not been having the best of times this season has been moving along with the mid-table race. Their last game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, gave them a ray of hope as they emerged out as winners, that too, in a close contest, which was influenced by David Miller. Their batting unit have not fired as a collective unit and mostly relied on individual performances. Bowling seems to be a strong point in the Delhi Capitals, and they would be looking to bank on it in this game.

At the toss, Delhi have won and chose to bowl first. Patel confirms Nabi's exit from the XI for Rana, while Kishan informs about Dubey's inclusion.

Here's what the captains said at the toss:

Ishan Kishan:

"It's hard to decide right now because I don't think this is a similar kind of wicket which we played on for the previous two matches. But yeah, it all depends on how it plays and how we, you know, go ahead about it. We have a few changes. they have been doing well. It's more about—not about the results—but about execution and their headspace. They have been in a good mindset, coming up with plans like I said earlier, and you know, that is what any captain wants from their young bowlers. So we'll take one match at a time, and I think they'll keep on executing the plans."

Axar Patel:

"We will bowl first. Luck is going well (on the toss); winning all matches would have been better. Thank you, I didn't think I would play 100 matches for DC. Hopefully, it'll end up with a win tonight. Obviously, to balance the team you need to understand how to balance your playing eleven in cricket, what kind of wicket you are getting, so according to the situation you balance the team. And obviously, when you have such a big squad, it becomes difficult to manage everyone, but at the same time you tell them that whatever contribution you make, you should think that you are doing it for the team. Whoever is sitting out, and whoever we select, we select the best eleven for the team. And in this way, the players also understand how the cricket game works - we can only play eleven players. One change: Nitish Rana replaces Aquib Nabi."