The Delhi Capitals (DC) line-up in the tournament opener against Mumbai Indians has raised quite a few eyebrows as it features just two overseas players. The Rishabh Pant-led outfit have nine Indian players in their playing XI for their first match of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) with Tim Seifert and Rovman Powell impressing being the only foreign players.
This is the only the second time in the history of the IPL that a team has fielded just two overseas players in the playing XI. The only other time this happened was 11 years ago when the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fielded just two overseas players in the IPL 2011’s opening encounter against MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings at the M Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
South African legend Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan were KKR’s only two non-Indian players that day in what was Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy debut for the franchise.
Delhi have been forced to make the decision as they are missing several key overseas players due to international duty and injuries. David Warner, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman, and Mitchell Marsh are all unavailable for selection.
