April 20, 2023
Delhi Capitals are playing against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 28th match of the Tata IPL 2023. The match will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, where DC are looking forward to claiming the first win of this season against KKR.
With 5 defeats from 5 matches, DC are at the bottom of the table with 0 points scored so far. KKR, on the other side, won 2 out of the 5 games played to be in the 6th place in the points table with 4 points.
Both teams have lost momentum in the last couple of games, so this game will be important for both sides to return to a winning track. DC are keen to overcome the batting issues they face this season, whereas KKR will try to restrict the runs they have been considering during the last overs.
After facing 5 back-to-back defeats this season, DC will play against KKR in the upcoming match to open a points account. Playing in front of a home crowd might help Delhi Capitals to get back on a winning track on 20th April 2023.
DC’s bowlers did a brilliant job against RCB in the last match, but the batters failed to chase the target of 175 runs. Mitchell Marsh and Kuldeep Yadav took 2 wickets each to restrict RCB’s attacking batting unit, whereas Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav picked up 1 wicket each with spin bowling.
While chasing the target of 175 runs, DC lost 4 wickets early in the powerplay and scored just 30 runs in the first 6 overs. Despite Manish Pandey’s 50 runs from 38 balls, no other batter could score more than 25 runs on the board, and the team lost the match by 23 runs. Prithvi Shaw and Mitchell Marsh’s form is still a big concern for DC in this year’s campaign.
Captain David Warner has been a lone warrior in the batting unit for DC so far this season. The team’s middle order has not yet delivered on expectations, so they failed to capitalize on their batting strength this season. Now they will try to overcome those issues against KKR to win the first game of this season.
Key players:
David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav.
Prithvi Shaw, David Warner (c), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Yash Dhull, Abishek Porel (wk), Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Aman Hakim Khan, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav.
KKR lost 2 back to back games against Sunrisers and Mumbai Indians and lost the momentum they had with 2 brilliant wins over Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Now to get back on a winning track, they will face DC, who are struggling to find a rhythm this season.
KKR’s impact player against MI in the last match, Venkatesh Iyer, shined with a bat to score a brilliant century for this team after a wait of 15 years when Brendon McCullum scored a ton in 2008. With the help of Iyer’s 104 runs from 51 balls, KKR scored 185 runs on the board despite the failure of other batters in the squad.
While defending 186 runs against MI at Wankhede Stadium, KKR’s bowlers lost momentum in the powerplay to concede 65 runs in the first 5 overs. MI’s batters quickly dominated KKR’s bowlers and chased the target by sparing 14 balls. Suyash Sharma was the only bowler who put some pressure on the opponent and took 2 wickets for 27 runs in 4 overs.
So far, KKR’s team has not delivered combined efforts this season to register a win. They depend on a few players to perform, so they lost the last 2 games despite scoring well on the board. They must work on these issues while playing against Dc in the next game.
Key players:
Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Narayan Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy.
The weather will be clear on the match day. The maximum and minimum temperatures will be between 34°C – 27°C. The pitch supports batters here in the 2nd inning of the game.
Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi will host this match. This ground accommodates 41,000 people and has conducted many domestic and international games.
The ground has conducted 7 T20I games so far. Out of those 7 games, the team chasing the target won 4 times. Here, the general trend is the winning captain chooses to bowl first.
By looking at both sides, KKR have the upper hand in the upcoming fixture against DC. DC’s batting order is struggling to score runs this season. KKR, on the other side, have few match winners in the squad, who can trouble DC’s bowlers in the next match.
We predict that KKR will defeat DC.
The upcoming match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders will be a crucial one for both teams to return to the winning track. Delhi Capitals are yet to secure their first win in the tournament and will be eager to open their account. Kolkata Knight Riders have lost their last two games and will also be keen to bounce back. The match will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, where the pitch supports batters in the second innings. KKR has the advantage in this game as they have match-winners in their squad, who can trouble DC’s bowlers. However, anything can happen in a T20 game, and both teams will give their best to emerge victorious.
