Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble are arguably two of the biggest names in cricket and the dazzling array of talent in both the teams would seek to draw inspiration from their respective heavyweight coaches in their tournament opener.

Man-to-man, Delhi Capitals seem to have a slight edge, more so in the spin department, with the trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Axar Patel streets ahead of their counterparts from the Mohali-based side.

The match, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, will also be a face-off between skippers KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, both seen as future India captaincy material.

On the batting front, the Capitals have one of the best assortments of India internationals, comprising Prithvi Shaw, Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, besides West Indian Shimron Hetmyer.

In this scenario, India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane (strike-rate below 120), who was bought from Rajasthan Royals, may be left out.

The KXIP also boast of some of the finest clean hitters in the form of Chris Gayle, Glenn Maxwell and Rahul himself.

Maxwell's confidence must be sky high after his ODI series-winning century (108) against England in Manchester. He also had a memorable run the last time the IPL was held in UAE, albeit partially, in 2014 when he hammered 552 runs in 16 games.