(Cricket news) The similarities between PBKS and DC’s campaign is pretty much identical with 12 points in as many games. Neither of them have won two games on the bounce in IPL 2022, pointing to familiar inconsistency that both these franchises have faced this year. On the contrary both the teams will be on the back of resounding victories as PBKS dented Bangalore and their playoffs hopes, while Delhi stalled Rajasthan Royals march into top-two with an eight-wicket statement win
PBKS batting department has come off good in the last two matches as Jonny Bairstow has struck form after being moved to the top of the order, hitting fifties in the last two games. His blazing knock against Royal Challengers allowed Liam Livingstone to play himself in before going on an all-out attack, Livingstone has the second-best strike rate of 180.75 in IPL 2022 and has hit the third-highest number of sixes (29), only behind Jos Buttler (37) and Andre Russell (32). Mayank Agarwal changed his batting position to number 4, but he hasn’t been able to score many runs for his franchise. In the bowling department, Rishi Dhawan has shown he can shoulder the responsibility of the fifth bowler, while the inclusion of Harpreet Brar has given them another spin option along with Rahul Chahar. Punjab's pace duo of Arshdeep Singh and Kagiso Rabada have the best economy of 9.9 in death overs this IPL even though the South African has done the bulk of wicket-taking in that phase.
DC last match rode on the brilliance of Mitchell Marsh and David Warner to win the match as Marsh hit 89 off 62 balls, apart from picking up 2 for 25 from his three overs against RR. With 1005 runs in 22 innings and with 12 half-century knocks, Warner is the leading run-scorer against Punjab in the IPL. For DC there is some positive news as Prithvi Shaw will be back in the playing XI. In the bowling department, Kuldeep Yadav's dwindling returns with just 5 wickets in the second half at an average of 37.2 as compared to the 13 in the first at 14.31, and his economy jumping to nearly 10 from 7.86 is a bit of worry for the DC management. Khaleel Ahmed missed the last match but he too has been in form and might replace Shardul Thakur who has had a very underwhelming season according to his high standards. Since the start of 2021, Liam Livingstones has the lowest average (17.66) against left-arm wrist spin, while the lowest strike rate (133.11) is against left-arm orthodox spin.
Pitch and weather report: The DY Patil stadium has thrown in some mixed results as both bowlers and batters have got some joy on this pitch. Chasing has been a trend at this venue with the toss-winning captain opting to bat first just twice so far this IPL. 10 out of 18 games have been won by chasing sides. The temperature is going to hover around 31 degrees as no rain is expected today.
Interesting facts:
- PBKS have five 60+ Powerplay totals while DC has three such totals in IPL 2022
- With 1133 runs in 29 innings at an average of 47.2, Mitch Marsh is the top run-getter at one down position in T20 cricket since 2021.
- Rabada is on 97 wickets from just 61 IPL games, and could potentially overtake Lasith Malinga as the fastest to 100 tournament wickets who did it in 70 matches
- Kagiso Rabada has got Warner out five times in 83 balls. But Warner has taken 124 off him, at a strike rate of 149.39.
- Kuldeep has the edge over Shikhar Dhawan as he has been dismissed twice in 37 balls while giving away only 34 runs.
- Mayank Agarwal has scored only 36 runs off 43 balls against Axar but has never been dismissed by him.
Also read: All-round RR humble LSG by 24 runs, inch closer to play-offs
Probable XI for PBKS:
1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Mayank Agarwal (capt), 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Rishi Dhawan, 8 Harpreet Brar, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Rahul Chahar, 11 Arshdeep Singh
Probable XI for DC:
1 David Warner, 2 Prithvi Shaw/KS Bharat, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Lalit Yadav, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Chetan Sakariya
