Delhi Capitals take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the 16th Match of Indian Premier League 2024 today at the Dr. Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam today.
DELHI CAPITALS:
The home team, Delhi Capitals lost the first two games but clinched a convincing victory in their first home game of the season. David Warner has been the best batter of the team so far scoring 130 runs at an average of 43.33 and strike rate of 144.44. Prithvi Shaw impressed in his first game of the season scoring 43(27), while Rishabh Pant after two below par performances, scored 51(32) in the last match against Chennai Super Kings. The notable thing was that, at one stage he was batting on 23 from 23 balls. Mitchell Marsh, who was demoted to no.4 from opening in the last game, got quick starts in all the games, but failed to score 25+ in any of those. Tristan Stubbs played a very good innings in the second game against Rajasthan Royals, while Abishek Porel had hit a brilliant 32(10)* against Punjab Kings in the opening game. Axar Patel, though has an average of 43 so far this season, his strike rate is very low(126.47) for a someone batting in death overs.
Khaleel Ahmed has been very good with the ball so far picking up 5 wickets at an average of 17.6 and economy rate of 7.33. Axar Patel has bowled very well so far giving away runs at an economy rate of just 6, and also picking up crucial wickets at time. Mukesh Kumar took 3/21 from his 3 overs in the last game, while Kuldeep Yadav and Ishant Sharma too have been very decent with the ball. But, what's concerning for the Capitals is Anrich Nortje, who has figures of 8-0-91-1 in this IPL so far. Another overseas contingent Mitchell Marsh's figures read 5-0-66-0.
EXPECTED LINE UP OF 12 : Prithvi Shaw, David Warner*, Mitchell Marsh*, Rishabh Pant (C & WK), Tristan Stubbs*, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje/Jhye Richardson*, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed.
If Kuldeep Yadav is fit, he is expected to play this game. Another likely change can be Jhye Richardson in place of Anrich Nortje.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS:
Philip Salt has been very good with the bat scoring 54(40) and 30(20). Narine was unlucky to be run out in the first game, but scored a fiery 47(22) in the last game. The Iyers: Shreyas and Venkatesh failed in the opening game, but played good knocks in their last match against RCB. Andre Russell murdered the SRH bowlers scoring 64(25)* in the first match of the season, while Rinku Singh too played a good cameo in that match. Ramandeep Singh too scored a very 35(17) in their opening match.
Harshit Rana has been the pick of the bowlers for KKR with 5 wickets in the 2 matches KKR played so far. Russell also has been pretty good picking up 4 wickets. Narine was brilliant in the first match (4-0-19-0), but got a bit of tap against RCB, though he picked up the prized wicket of Glenn Maxwell. Varun Chakravarthy form is a concern for KKR, with him going for 12.5 runs an over. But, their biggest setback so far has been Mitchell Starc, who had figures of 4-0-53-0 and 4-0-47-0 in the two matches. To be noted, he was bought at 24.75 crores by KKR.
EXPECTED LINE UP OF 12 : Philip Salt (WK), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (C), Ramandeep Singh , Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora
With 11 players almost certain to play, it will be interesting to see who will be the 12th player. Given a pace supporting pitch, Vaibhav Arora might get the nod.
PITCH AND WEATHER REPORT:
The weather forecast predicts temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius accompanied by humidity reaching up to 83 percent under partly cloudy skies.
The pitch at the first game in Vizag displayed a substantial covering of grass, facilitating swing and seam movement for almost the entire 40 overs. Additionally, it exhibited increased swing particularly under the evening lights. Similar conditions are anticipated for the upcoming DC vs KKR game.
INTERESTING STATS AND FACTS:
In the history of the IPL, Delhi and Kolkata have faced each other 32 times, with KKR maintaining a slight advantage with 16 wins compared to Delhi's 15. However, since 2022, Delhi has emerged victorious in the last three encounters between the two teams.
Delhi have played six matches in Visakhapatnam since 2015, with a 50 percent win-loss record.
In 2010 at the Eden Gardens, when KKR faced DC (then DD), KKR won and the then KKR captain Sourav Ganguly was MoM. Gautam Gambhir was the captain of DD, who got run out courtesy a direct hit from Ganguly. Today, Ganguly is the Director of Cricket for DC and Gambhir is the mentor of KKR.
MATCH DETAILS:
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Dr. Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam
Live broadcast: Star Network
Live streaming: JioCinema App
DREAM 11:
