Kolkata Knight Riders have wind in their sails heading into their first day game against Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2022. Not only are they the table-toppers but are also coming off a stunning victory against Mumbai Indians in Pune, a match that saw tides turn in the favour of the Knight Riders courtesy Pat Cummins’ joint-fastest IPL half-century off mere 14 balls.
The Capitals have, so far, managed to win just one game, which was a day game at Brabourne Stadium, the venue for Sunday’s fixture, and currently find themselves seventh on the points table.
There is little in terms of head-to-head to separate the two sides. KKR hold the edge with 16 wins while DC have won 12 but it’s them who have won five out of the last nine games between the two sides.
Key Players:
The Knight Riders have started well with the ball in all their four games with Umesh Yadav enjoying a dream return to the IPL fold. Nobody has bowled as many dot balls as he has this year so far - 56. The spin twins Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine have bowled 44 dots each and will once again by key against Rishabh Pant’s men, who struggled for runs in their last game against Lucknow Supergiants’ spinners.
But the boys in Purple and Gold will be looking to improve their death bowling after having conceded 76 runs in the last five overs against Mumbai Indians and 47 runs in three overs against Chennai Super Kings in the tournament opener.
Venkatesh Iyer brought up his first half-century while anchoring the chase in the last game and will be looking to build on the momentum.
Former Knight Rider Kuldeep Yadav has enjoyed a prolific start to his season with the Delhi Capitals having picked 6 wickets and bowling at under seven runs an over. Prithvi Shaw brought up the side’s first half-century in a breezy 34-ball 61 against LSG and will once again be expected to stand tall, alongside David Warner, against the new-ball attack of KKR. Mustafizur Rahman has bowled at an economy of 6.12 and will bear the onus of keeping the Knight Riders’ batters on their toe and adding to the solitary powerplay wicket his side have picked this season.
Squads:
KKR: Shreyas Iyer (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Aaron Finch, Abhijeet Tomar, Ramesh Kumar, Pratham Singh, Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson, Baba Indrajith, Pat Cummins, Mohammad Nabi, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Anukul Roy, Chamika Karunaratne, Aman Khan, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Umesh Yadav, Rasikh Salam, Tim Southee, Ashok Sharma, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy
DC: Rishabh Pant (c), Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman, Kuldeep Yadav, Ashwin Hebbar, Sarfaraz Khan, KS Bharat, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Mandeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Yash Dhull, Rovman Powell, Pravin Dubey, Lungi Ngidi, Tim Seifert, Vicky Ostwal
