Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals will face each other in the first of two matches in the Indian Premier League today. Delhi are certain to qualify in the top two and will look to get a couple of more wins to mathematically confirm their position. Kolkata should be happy with Monday’s result as a Rajasthan Royals loss meant that Kolkata could maintain their fourth position. However, with four teams on 8 points, KKR would know that the other three teams are always looking to surpass them.
KKR started well in the second leg and had two big wins against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians. But, in the match against Chennai Super Kings it was a story of opportunity loss; KKR failed to defend 26 runs in last two overs as CSK claimed a win on the last ball. Although a fit Russell could have changed the climax. Russell got an injury while saving a four in the last match and he is likely to miss this match given his injury history. Ben Cutting is a like-to-like replacement for Russell, but the KKR management may opt for Shakib Al Hasan as he is a better batter and his bowling should be more effective in these conditions.
KKR’s young Indian batters continued to perform. Venkatesh Iyer is the most talked-about player for them while Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana also looked in good form. How they can handle the pace of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada will have an impact on the result. Their captain KKR will hope for Eoin Morgan, the captain to take more responsibility against the strongest outfit of this season, and the inclusion of Shakib can give Morgan an opportunity slightly lower and come in the death overs.
Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy form a good spin combination for KKR while the team is being benefitted from the in-form Lockie Ferguson. Prasidh Krishna was hit for 20 runs off 4 balls by Ravindra Jadeja during the 19th over in the last match. But Krishna should be able to maintain his spot and will look to make a comeback.
Delhi Capitals are looking like a team with no possible weak spot in current form. Their openers are in the list of top ten highest run scorers this season and they also have two bowlers in the most wickets chart. They missed Shreyas Iyer during the first part of the league and it also forced them to drop Anrich Nortje as they had to strengthen their batting with an overseas player.
But now in the UAE leg, both Iyer and Nortje are back and Delhi look even more potent side on the field. They have a settled unit and will look to continue with the same combination. Marcus Stoinis missed the last match due to injury and will miss today’s match as well. Instead of replacing him with another overseas batter or bowler and changed the team combination, they replaced the Aussie all-rounder with the Indian all-rounder Lalit Yadav and opted to play with just three overseas players in the previous game.
Yadav picked up 2-13 and Delhi Capitals should continue with him as his off-spin can be handy against the left-handers of KKR. However, Sam Billings will be out of quarantine on Monday and can be a possible option. Their bowling looks in good hands with pacers like Rabada, Nortje and Avesh. The world-class spinners like Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel make the bowling attack well balanced.
Likely XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (Capt), Shakib Al Hasan/Ben Cutting, Dinesh Karthik, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (Capt), Shimron Hetmyer, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan
Betway Fantasy Tips
- Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer are in good form. Both bat in the top order for respective teams which allow them to score more runs and make them good fantasy batting options
- The overseas Pace bowlers like Nortje, Rabada and Ferguson should be good options
- Dhawan is just 3 runs behind Sanju Samson in the Orange Cap race and should look to reclaim his spot
Blitzpools Fantasy XI
Rishabh Pant; Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi; Sunil Narine; Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy(vc)
