(Cricket news) KKR come into this match in dismal form as they have lost four on the trot, their unsavoury run kick started against DC earlier in the month. Until then, KKR had been topping the table with three wins in four games. DC on the other hand have had a topsy turvy IPL season as they have been plagued with injuries and covid cases but will look to make a late playoff run in the second half of the season.
KKR have some worries going into the match as their top order and middle order are failing to perform, the KKR management need to find a solution. In terms of batting the KKR batters have been a hit and miss this tournament, Aaron Finch firing from the top of the order against Rajasthan Royals gave them hope but he had to sit out of the match against Gujarat Titans with a niggle as Shreyas Iyer also has been hot and cold this season. The only consistent player this season has been Andre Russell who not has been performing with the bat but also with the ball. Their bowling performance over the course of 4 matches has been awful as they have conceded almost 11.63 rpo in the death. The arrival of Tim Southee into the playing XI has brought some parity in the ball line up as he has a bowling average of 10 which is the best this season among the bowlers
DC have been heavily reliant on their opening batsmen to score the majority of the runs as the middle order has been performing that well. With Mitchell Marsh back after recovering from Covid might just slot straight into the playing XI as the number 3 position in the team has been very uncertain. They too would be hopeful of better results after Rovman Powell gave hints of delivering on his hitting promise, after a blistering knock against RR in the last match. Their death bowling too hinges solely on Mustafizur Rahman, which has proved to be cumbersome of late as batters usually take him on in the death. Andre Russell has been dismissed three times by Shardul Thakur and Mustafizur Rahman so far but he also maintains a healthy strike rate against them also, it will be interesting on how Rishabh Pant uses these two bowlers in the death overs.
Pitch and weather reports: The Wankhede pitch over the last five matches have been producing a lot of runs as the last five matches barring yesterday’s match was won by sides batting first as dew factors is not affecting the venue so much. We can expect a lot of runs especially with firepower that is on display today. The temperature is going to hover around 33 degrees with no chance of rain.
Interesting facts:
- Sunil Narine needs one wicket to reach 150 wickets in the IPL
- Prithvi Shaw has an average 56 and has a strike rate of 171 against KKR
- DC have taken only eight wickets in the powerplay in IPL 2022 and it is the lowest amongst all teams in IPL 2022
- Sunil Narine has dismissed Rovam Powell thrice in eight meetings, and Powell's average reads 7.3 against the mystery spinner
- Umesh Yadav has dismissed David Warner four times in 55 balls
- David Warner has the highest strike-rate of 171 in the powerplay this season
Also read: I had self belief in my batting, I've been working on it in last two years: Rashid
Probable XI for KKR:
1 Sam Billings (wk/Aaron Finch, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Nitish Rana/Baba Indrajith, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Venkatesh Iyer, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Shivam Mavi, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
Probable XI for DC:
1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 David Warner, 3 Sarfaraz Khan/Mitchell Marsh, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 5 Lalit Yadav, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Khaleel Ahmed
