New Delhi [India], May 4 (ANI): Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Axar Patel could be a fine match-up for his side against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opening pair of skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday.

The hosts, DC, who are optimistic and upbeat after a recent win over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) following a run of three losses, will be taking on CSK, who also kept their playoff hopes alive with a win over arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI). With both teams at eight points after nine matches, CSK are at the sixth spot and DC at seventh, still pretty much in the race for the final four.

CSK openers, as per Cricbuzz, have an aggregate of 205 runs at an average of 22.77, which is the second-lowest among all teams this season after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). This comes despite two centuries by Sanju, 315 runs in nine matches at an average of 45.00 and a strike rate of 167.55, with two centuries) And two successive fifties by Ruturaj (245 runs in nine matches at an average of 35.00 and a strike rate of 125.64).

They have had a competitive match against Axar, who has dismissed Ruturaj twice in seven innings. The CSK batter scored 63 runs at an average of 32.50 and a strike rate of 143.18 against Axar. Sanju has been dismissed twice in 13 innings by Axar. Sanju has scored 91 runs against him at strike rate of 122.97. Axar has managed to contain his free-flow of runs.

Axar, who has had eight wickets so far at an average of 29.87, could be bowling in the powerplay at the two batters.

Squads: Delhi Capitals Squad: KL Rahul(w), Pathum Nissanka, Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel(c), Ashutosh Sharma, Kyle Jamieson, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, David Miller, Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, Lungi Ngidi, Mukesh Kumar, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prithvi Shaw, Auqib Nabi Dar, Rehan Ahmed, Tripurana Vijay, Abishek Porel, Sahil Parakh, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari Chennai Super Kings Squad: Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Urvil Patel, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Prashant Veer, Shreyas Gopal, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Kartik Sharma, MS Dhoni, Akeal Hosein, Matt Henry, Sarfaraz Khan, Matthew Short, Rahul Chahar, Spencer Johnson, Akash Madhwal, Aman Khan, Gurjapneet Singh, Zakary Foulkes. (ANI)