Overview: Delhi & Kolkata are in the bottom half of the table after playing 5 games each. Both teams are coming off from a defeat against RCB & MI respectively. After starting the season decently, KKR are falling apart and DC are yet to open their account in this tournament. So, this will be the perfect time for both the teams to face off.
DELHI CAPITALS: The Delhi Capitals have surprised all of us to be honest. Despite losing their skipper Rishabh Pant early, their batting order looked solid and still they are a good team on paper. But, except Axar & Nortje to an extent, no one has showed up so far. They are finding hard to defend totals but that is not only because of their bowling but also because of their inability to post a huge total. Warner, Sarfraz & Shaw are in the list of top 5 batters to face more balls without hitting a six. Their captain has done the bulk of the scoring but with low strike rate which is hurting them badly. Their only positive is their keeper Abhishek Porel, not much with the bat, but behind the wickets who has been brilliant. If they loose this game, the season might be a long one for them. DC have almost used all their players but are struggling to find the right combination. Capitals have called Priyam Garg & Abhimanyu Eswaran for trials.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: KKR is the other team which has surprised everyone by winning 2 of their first 3 games. But SRH & MI gave them a reality check by handing them back-to-back defeats. Both the games which they have won so far was nothing short of a miracle. Like DC, due to injuries and player’s availability, KKR had some setbacks even before the tournament started. Despite that, they won those couple of games with the individual brilliance of Shardul Thakur & Rinku Singh. You still can’t really find big holes in the team as Venky Iyer, Rinku Singh & Nitish Rana all are scoring runs and Varun, Suyash & Narine doing reasonably well. But their top order and the fast-bowling department is letting them down. The opening combo for KKR is just above DC in the list of least runs scored. And what worked with Umesh Yadav last year is not working this year for them. All their seamers have been expensive and not picking wickets. They need more from their 10cr purchases (Shardul & Lockie). And after all these, their veteran Caribbean pair is looking out of sorts. Narine did well against RCB and not much after that. Russell has been struggling with the bat and really struggling to bowl and field. KKR will be happy to face a depleted DC and look to come back to winning ways.
PROBABLE XIII:
DELHI CAPITALS: D Warner (C), P Shaw, M Marsh, Y Dhull, M Pandey, A Patel, L Yadav, A Khan, A Porel (WK), K Yadav, C Sakariya. (IMPACT SUBS – R Rossouw & M Rahman)
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: J Roy, N Jagadeesan (WK), V Iyer, N Rana (C), R Singh, A Russell, S Narine, S Thakur, U Yadav, L Ferguson, V Chakravarthi (IMPACT SUBS – S Sharma)
INTERESTING FACTS:
- The last time DC lost their first 5 games, they finished last (in 2013).
- Umesh Yadav has dismissed Warner 5 times in IPL, most by any bowler.
- P Shaw needs 2 fours to complete 200 IPL boundaries.
- Manish Pandey’s tournament strike rate of 133.33 is his best since 2016.
- Tim Southee is 3 wickets away from 50 IPL wickets.
- Last year Kuldeep Yadav picked up multiple 4 fers against his former team and won 2 Player of the Match awards.
PITCH & WEATHER REPORT: The weather is clear, there is no chances of rain. At the Arun Jaitley Stadium, the spinners have always had the edge above the seamers and both the teams have quality spinners. But still, we might expect another high scoring game.
MATCH DETAILS:
TIME – 7:30 PM IST
DATE – 20th APRIL 2023
VENUE: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
DREAM XI TEAM:
