Mumbai: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capital (DC) will look to bring their Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign back on track, when they face-off on Thursday here at Wankhede Stadium.
Rishabh Pant's Delhi are currently seventh on the points table with three wins in seven outings. Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata are placed eighth, having lost their last four games
In their last match, DC suffered a 15-run defeat against Rajasthan Royals, while KKR went down to Gujarat Titans by eight runs.
Lack of consistency in the batting line-up remains a concern for KKR. The likes of Shreyas, Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer need to play impactful innings against DC.
Bowling-wise, pace duo of Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee are bankable options. Varun Chakravarthy is yet to find his rhythm.
DC have David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Pant and Rovman Powell in their batting line-up. Warner has scored three back-to-back fifties before he stumbled against RR in the last game. Pant and Shaw will look to play impressive knocks against KKR. Powell's big hitting in the lower order will add crucial runs on the board in the death overs.
In the bowling line-up, Kuldeep Yadav and Khaleel Ahmed will lead the charge. The duo are the leading wicket-takers for Capitals this season. Along with Khaleel, Mustafizur Rahman and Lalit Yadav will be backed to claim early wickets in the powerplay.
Kolkata Knight Riders squad: Pat Cummins, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, B Indrajith, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Aaron Finch, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav, Aman Khan.
Delhi Capitals squad: Rishabh Pant (wk/c), Khaleel Ahmed, Ashwin Hebbar, Srikar Bharat, Yash Dhull, Praveen Dubey, Sarfaraz Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Lalit Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Mustafizur Rahman, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Vicky Ostwal, Ripal Patel, Axar Patel, Rovman Powell, Chetan Sakariya, Tim Seifert, Prithvi Shaw, Shardul Thakur, David Warner. (UNI)
