Is Vipraj Nigam playing today's PBKS vs DC IPL 2025 match?

Delhi Capitals (DC) all-rounder Vipraj Nigam was omitted from their playing XI for the IPL 2025 match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dharamshala on Thursday, May 8. He was replaced by Madhav Tiwari in the XI.

Nigam, however, was part of the Impact Players list with Ashutosh Sharma, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mukesh Kumar and Tripurna Vijay. Nigam has taken 11 wickets in 11 matches in IPL 2025 at an economy rate of 9.48. He has also scored 122 runs at a strike rate of 179.41.

DC captain Axar Patel did not give the reason behind Nigam's exclusion from the playing XI.

PBKS opt to bat first in rain-delayed start at Dharamsala

Earlier, persistent rain at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala delayed the start by one hour. PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bat first. The right-handed batter put the faith on the PBKS opening pair of Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya and the other batters to deliver the goods again on Thursday.

"If you see the last game, the way our openers started and other batters capitalising, that gives us a fair point to come and bat first. Essentially if you see the trend in the IPL, the players who are in form and win you matches are the team who go ahead and win the championship," Iyer said at the toss (via Cricbuzz).

PBKS did not make any changes to the side that defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Sunday, May 4. New signing Mitchell Owen, who was roped in as a replacement for Glenn Maxwell, was neither part of the playing XI nor part of the Impact Players list. The five players listed by PBKS as impact subs were Vijaykumar Vyshak, Harpreet Brar, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge and Yash Thakur.

PBKS entered the match in third place on the points table while DC entered the match in fifth place on the points table.