IPL 2026: Trouble for Delhi Capitals as Mitchell Strac to miss more games in league stage

Delhi Capitals (DC) have started the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign with two successive victories against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and the Mumbai Indians (MI) at home and away from home. In both these clashes, Sameer Rizvi’s batting performance came through the ranks and earned successive ‘Player of the Match’ awards.

Under the leadership of Axar Patel, Delhi started the competition of the previous season with five wins in the first six encounters. But they failed to carry the same momentum in the second half of the competition, losing six of their last eight encounters.

Mitchell Starc likely to miss three more IPL 2026 games for DC

Australia’s left-arm pacer, Mitchell Starc, is yet to join the DC camp. The 36-year-old is likely to miss at least three more games for the side as he has been managing a shoulder and elbow injury back home and is very unlikely to join the squad before April 2024. Prior to that, they are scheduled for three games.

Delhi will face the Gujarat Titans on April 08, the Chennai Super Kings on April 11, and later the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 18, and Starc will miss the DC games. The think tank remains hopeful of having Starc with them at some point of the event, but the timelines are unclear at this stage.

See Also: IPL 2026: Why BCCI and IPL franchises would lose INR 2400 crore in every season?

In the absence of Starc, Delhi has been fortunate to use Lungi Ngidi as the overseas pacer. Even in the presence of Starc, the franchise is likely to keep Ngidi and perhaps get Prithvi Shaw as the opening batter in place of the foreigner, Pathum Nissanka.

Mitchell Starc gives update on his injury to be out of IPL 2026

Starc’s addition will only add a significant bite to this attack, and the bowler remains in touch with the management. A few weeks ago, last month, on social media, he revealed the nature of his injury and shared the opinions of others regarding that.

“Despite the opinions and views of certain individuals with their platforms in and through the Indian media, I'm currently rehabbing and managing an injury in my shoulder and elbow, the extent of which I didn't know during the Australian summer.” He wrote on social media.  

“These individuals have made some strong statements around involvement in the IPL and provided heavily misinformed opinions of players, preached them as facts, and claimed to know my body better than me,” Starc explained.

DC faces the Gujarat Titans on April 08 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium before making a trip to the MA Chidambaram Stadium for the fixture against the Chennai Super Kings.