MATCH PREVIEW
Follow UsAcross the last 40 overs they’ve batted, Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders, between them, have combinedly scored an unfathomable 518 runs.
These two sides will now clash against each other in one of the highest-scoring venues this season, the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on April 29 (Monday).
As far as predictions are concerned, it can’t get easier than this: expect both a run-fest and a six-fest at the Eden, with two of the most in-form batting sides in the competition locking horns.
It’s a very important contest in the context of the season. While a victory for KKR will take them that much closer to playoff qualification, Delhi winning would break the points table wide open, putting the Rishabh Pant-led side right in the mix for a top-four finish.
DC began the season with just one win in their first five games but have since won four of their last five matches. They’ll get to 12 points with a win and will potentially be two wins away from making it to the playoffs.
KKR vs DC Head-to-Head
Overall - Games 33 | KKR 17 | DC 16
At Eden Gardens - Games 9 | KKR 7 | DC 2
Ground Details
Five games have been played at the Eden Gardens so far in IPL 2024, and it’s seen an average first innings score of 215, which is the third-highest among all venues that has hosted three or more games. The last six scores at this venue (bat first and bat second) have been 261, 262, 222, 221, 223 and 224. Yeah, it’s been that kind of a venue. And it’s been that kind of a season.
Bat first or bat second? Probably bat second. 3/5 games at Eden this season have been won by the chasing side, and RCB missed out chasing 223 by a solitary run. Just two nights ago, Punjab Kings chased down 262 for the loss of just one wicket, with eight balls to spare.
In case it’s not clear already, here’s us reaffirming the fact that Eden has proven to be a graveyard for bowlers: its economy rate of 11.1 is the second-worst among all venues. Pacers and spinners have both been super expensive, but spinners (E.R 9.6) have been relatively more economical than the quicks (E.R 11.6). Both have averaged over 35, so yep, forget about taking wickets at Eden.
Weather Forecast
The good news is that there is no chance of rain in Kolkata. But the bad news is that it’s expected to be extremely hot and humid. Temperatures at noon will be around 42°. It will drop to 30° in the evening but, according to Accuweather, Kolkata will be ‘very warm and very humid’. Dew will almost certainly be a factor.
Things to watch out for
Can Rasikh Salam keep his prolific wicket-taking form going?
Not too long ago, the Capitals found themselves in a fast bowling crisis of sorts, at times having to rely on the medium pace of Sumit Kumar to fill in due to Ishant Sharma being injured and Anrich Nortje being terribly out of form. However, the organic rise of young Rasikh Salam has ended up solving a lot of bowling headaches for the side.
Since coming back into the side in the clash against Gujarat Titans (GT), Rasikh has taken six wickets, providing breakthroughs at crucial intervals. Against Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 27 (Saturday), the 24-year-old broke the Hardik Pandya - Tilak Varma stand and then dismissed the dangerous Nehal Wadhera to turn the contest in DC’s favour. Three days prior, he dismissed the set Sai Sudharsan (65) and then cut short a dangerous innings from R Sai Kishore to help DC beat GT.
Both of Rasikh’s three-fers so far have come at home. Can he step up and deliver for the side at Eden?
KKR need to fix their powerplay woes
48 overs bowled. 521 runs conceded at an economy of 10.9, the worst among all teams. KKR have bled in the powerplay, and it’s been hurting them all season.
They’ve gotten away with their inefficiency in the powerplay a few times, but it cost them big time in the clash against Punjab Kings. PBKS chased down a record 262 and 93 of those runs came in the powerplay.
How do KKR go about solving this problem? That’s the million-dollar question. So far this season, the Knight Riders have used seven bowlers in the powerplay and every single one of them have conceded at over 9.5 RPO.
Mitchell Starc, who has been ultra-expensive, missed the PBKS clash, but his replacement, Dushmantha Chameera, proved to be even more expensive, conceding 31 off the two overs he bowled.
KKR’s last three games have seen them concede 93, 76 & 74 in the powerplay. The in-form Jake Fraser-McGurk will eat them alive if they continue to bowl with the new ball like how they’ve been bowling.
Probable XIs
With David Warner still nursing an injury, expect DC to field an unchanged XI.
DC XI: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kumar Kushagra, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Lizaad Williams, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Rasikh Salam (IP)
KKR will likely bring Mitch Starc back into the XI if he has recovered from the finger injury.
KKR XI: Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh , Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora (IP)
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