New Delhi: All eyes will be on Prithvi Shaw on Thursday when Delhi Capitals take on Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL 2023 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Prithvi Shaw has had a forgettable campaign for DC so far, having scored just 34 runs from five matches at a strike-rate of 117.24.
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What’s more worrying for the Delhi Capitals is their miserable start to their IPL 2023 campaign. The Ricky Ponting-coached side have played five matches so far this season, and have lost all five matches. So, a little bit of tweak at the DC top-order might be on the cards.
Sarfaraz Khan, who has earlier been tried as a wicketkeeper-batter, could be drafted in as a specialist opener for powerplay overs, while the other option could be to promote veteran Manish Pandey.
For the David Warner-led side, this is a must-win situation as all routes to playoffs will mathematically be shut if they suffer another defeat.
KKR, on the other hand, would like to forget the loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad at home and get on with winning some games. Their skipper Nitish Rana, middle-order batter Rinku Singh and West Indian power-hitter Andre Russell do possess the capability to hammer Delhi Capitals’ bowlers, led by Anrich Nortje and Mustafizur Rahman.
The five consecutive defeats for Delhi are a reminder that they are really thin on resources in the batting department.
The biggest letdown undoubtedly has been Shaw’s lack of performance. The former Under-19 captain, who led India to victory during the 2018 U19 World Cup, looks a pale shadow of himself.
Statistics speak so loud and clear: Shaw scored 479 runs in 2021 and 283 in 10 games last year. But this year he has looked completely out of sorts against quick bowlers, making his position untenable.
He was run out for a duck in the last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, which Delhi lost by 23 runs in Bengaluru.
While there has been criticism around skipper Warner’s slow strike rate, the Australian opener’s struggles seem more because he has never got the freedom to accelerate, with wickets falling at the other end.
Warner has scored 228 runs in five games at a strike rate of around 116.
The other disappointment has been Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh at No.3. It remains to be see if Rilee Rossouw and Rovman Powell get back in the mix.
Yash Dhull has a serious technical flaw in his batting and has not been able to rectify the early trigger movement of shuffling towards the off-stump, making him an ideal candidate for LBW decisions to incoming deliveries.
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DC’s bench strength too is pretty poor and that’s one of the reasons even out-of-form players are not being replaced.
For KKR, Englishman Jason Roy could replace Rahamanullah Gurbaz in the opener’s slot with N. Jagadeesan keeping wickets.
It will also be leg-spinner Suyash Sharma’s first senior-level game at his home ground.
However, all eyes will be on Nitish and Rinku, the two power-hitters who will be out to entertain the capacity crowd along with Russell and the in-form Venkatesh Iyer, who is fresh from his century against MI, albeit in losing cause.
DC vs KKR head-to-head: Both Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders have played each other 32 times in the IPL, with KKR winning 16 matches while DC have won 15 games. One match between these two teams ended in a no-result.
Probable playing XIs
DC: David Warner (c), Phil Salt, Manish Pandey, Yash Dhull, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Abhishek Porek (Wicketkeeper), Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi
KKR: Venkatesh Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Nitish Rana (c), N Jagadeesan, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Lockie Ferguson
DC vs KKR live streaming: The match will start at 7.30 pm IST and will be broadcast on the Star Sports Network TV channels. The match will also be streamed live on the JioCinema app and website.
Squads:
Delhi Capitals: David Warner (c), Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Hakim Khan, Abhishek Porel (wk), Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Rovman Powell, Rilee Rossouw, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahaman, Chetan Sakariya, Mukesh Kumar, Phil Salt, Lungi Ngidi, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vicky Ostwal, Ishant Sharma, Manish Pandey, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Yash Dhull.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das (wicketkeeper), Mandeep Singh and Jason Roy.
With inputs from PTI
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