PREVIEW Saturday evening PDC World Darts Championship: Smith, Dobey and 'People's Champion' Bunting headline

After the first matches of the second round at the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship were completed this afternoon, we are already back tonight with the next four ties. Big names take to the stage, and a Dutchman faces a former world champion.

We open the evening with Niels Zonneveld, who in his second match meets former world champion Michael Smith. Then it’s Chris Dobey’s turn as he locks horns with Andrew Gilding. The third match brings Stephen Bunting, who must deal with India’s Nitin Kumar. The evening was set to end with Jonny Clayton against Dom Taylor, but the latter was disqualified on Friday after a positive doping test. As a result, Clayton advances automatically to the third round.

We open the evening with the 2023 world champion Michael Smith, who in his second match of the tournament faces the Dutchman Niels Zonneveld. Smith had little trouble with his opening opponent Lisa Ashton. Although the first set looked somewhat tight and Smith nicked it in a deciding leg, it was pretty much one-way traffic after that. He won comfortably 3-0 in sets and posted a tidy 91 average.

Zonneveld played Haupai Puha of New Zealand in his opener, and he too progressed convincingly. “Triple Z” faced stiffer resistance and had to win a deciding leg in each of the first two sets to take them. He did so twice, and the third set then went 3-0 to the Dutchman for a 3-0 victory. He recorded a solid average of just over 92. All the numbers suggest it’s tight between these two, promising a tense match in which the Dutchman certainly has a chance to reach the third round.

Next up is an all-English clash: Chris Dobey meets Andrew Gilding. Dobey faced China’s Xiaochen Zong in his first match and, although he won 3-1 with relative ease, he didn’t truly convince. The doubles in particular didn’t quite click. He finished at 27% and at times benefited from Zong missing his chances.

And if we’re talking doubles, we’re talking Andrew Gilding, who was excellent on the outer ring in his opener. “Goldfinger” played the talented Cameron Crabtree, whom many thought might spring a surprise. Gilding had other ideas and produced a superb performance. He averaged almost 98 and hit his doubles at exactly the right moments. Checkouts of 76, 78, 116 and 161 all went for the Englishman, and the misses came when he could afford them.

While Dobey will be the favorite on paper, it’s Gilding who appears in better form at the moment. Of course, this is only a snapshot of one match, and the question is whether he can hit that level again. But if Gilding brings his first-round game on Saturday night, he can make life very difficult for Dobey.

In the third match we get one of the crowd favorites, Stephen Bunting, who faces a somewhat surprising opponent: Nitin Kumar. Bunting’s opener was against Poland’s Sebastian Bialecki and looked a straightforward assignment on paper. It seemed to be heading that way too, as “The Bullet” led 2-0 in sets. But the world number 4 then stalled completely, allowed the Pole to level at 2-2 in sets, and even needed extra legs to get over the line. He eventually sealed it, but with far more effort than he would have liked beforehand.

Nitin Kumar, for his part, upset Dutchman Richard Veenstra 3-2. The Indian absorbed no fewer than five 100+ checkouts from the compatriot of our readers, but stayed cool and took the deciding set 3-1 to win a match at the Worlds for the first time in five appearances. A further upset, however, looks a tall order, as Stephen Bunting should simply be a cut above “The Royal Bengal.”