If confidence could dictate the outcome of a match, Rajasthan Royals have already won Friday’s contest against Delhi Capitals even before a ball has been bowled.

The Royals go into their home match, in Jaipur, having brought down the high-flying Punjab Kings to the ground in their last game. They chased down a 200-plus total in the Kings’ lair to inflict the first defeat of the season on Shreyas Iyer’s team. The Royals have won two of their last three games and a win on Friday will help them take a big stride towards securing a playoffs berth.

Cut to Delhi. They have lost their last three games. Not just that, in their last match, against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, they were shot out for an embarrassing 75.
That thrashing would surely have left a deep scar on Axar Patel’s struggling team. And facing the Royals with that kind of a build-up isn’t ideal, especially since Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is in a threatening form.

But for Delhi Capitals, there’s hope, potentially an impact-making one. Mitchell Starc, finally, is available to play. The left-arm pacer was recovering from a shoulder injury and so is yet to play a match in IPL 2026. Though out of action for a considerable period of time, the Australian’s class and experience give Delhi hope that his presence might help in restraining the Royals’ ferocious batting line-up of Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel.

While Starc is available, Lungi Ngidi will probably not be, as he’s still recovering from a jarring neck injury. The onus, therefore, will be on the likes of T. Natarajan, Kuldeep Yadav and Dushmantha Chameera to give Starc some cushion in his first game of the season.

But with the Royals’ bowling attack, led by Jofra Archer, looking sharp, it might be all about how well Delhi bats after their disastrous outing the other day.