The Kolkata Knight Riders face the Delhi Capitals in match 42 at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Here’s our analysis.
The SWOT for KKR
Strengths: Their bowling is strong when in rhythm. Varun Chakravarthy and Shivam Mavi have got six wickets each. Lockie Ferguson got four wickets in two matches. And Sunil Narine’s bowling action has been cleared, so he can return.
Weaknesses: No batsman has got a fifty in the last four matches. Shubman Gill has been inconsistent and Rahul Tripathi is getting out too early. Nitish Rana has just one fifty and oppositions have worked out how to get Dinesh Karthik out pretty early. Eoin Morgan has tried to shoulder the scoring responsibility but it hasn’t been enough.
Opportunities: They need to win to keep other teams away from that fourth play-off spot.
Threats: Another loss would open up the table to teams like Hyderabad and Punjab. One of them could then push KKR out of the play-offs.
The SWOT for DC
Strengths: The bowling attack has been outstanding. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are consistent wicket-takers. The pacers seemed much weaker without Nortje in the last match. The spinners R Ashwin and Axar Patel have also played their part.
Weaknesses: With two fifties and two hundreds, Shikhar Dhawan is at the top of his game. However, the others like Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant seem to have lost some steam. They have got to take responsibility and be more consistent.
Opportunities: They need to seal their spot in the play-offs and this is the match to do it. They can be the first team to make it through.
Threats: They should not give in to overconfidence and lose their grip on the no. 1 spot.
Head to head:
Matches played: 26
Kolkata Knight Riders: 13
Delhi Capitals: 12
No Result: 1
What happened in their first clash?
It was a six-fest and Shreyas Iyer’s 88 was the standout effort. KKR fell short of the target and DC won by 18 runs.
Last five matches (most recent first):
Kolkata Knight Riders: L-W-L-L-W
Delhi Capitals: L-W-W-L-W
Deccan Herald’s Dream XI
Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan, Marcus Stoinis, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Lockie Ferguson, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna
Team news
KKR will hope that Andre Russell has recovered from his injury. There are no injury updates from the DC squad.
Ground conditions
It will be sunny with the temperature around 35 degrees Celsius. The humidity will be about 28%.
Impact player for KKR
Lockie Ferguson: The speedster has been a revelation in the last couple of matches. He bowls at a fiery pace that can extract wickets. Ferguson needs to be at his best to get some quick wickets and break through the formidable line-up.
Impact player for DC
Shikhar Dhawan: He had a slow start to the season but has now hit top form. He is the first player in IPL history to get back-to-back hundreds. He is second on the list of the season’s leading run-scorers.
How to watch
The match will be broadcast live on the Star Sports network. Viewers can also catch the action online on Disney+Hotstar. The match begins at 3.30 PM IST.
