FANTASY
Follow UsIn what is set to be a huge clash in the race for the playoffs, Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders will take on each other in an essential four-pointer at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. Both teams will enter Thursday’s clash having lost their last respective matches, but Delhi are still bound to have a slight edge, for such is the form of their opponents. KKR have lost each of their last four matches, and hence will be hoping to snap the losing streak and keep their playoff hopes alive.
Ground Details
The Wankhede has been busy of late, and Thursday’s clash between Delhi and Kolkata is set to be the fourth game in five days at the venue. Four of the last five clashes at the venue have been won by the team batting first, but Wednesday’s clash between Gujarat and Sunrisers saw the chasing side triumph. Gujarat, in fact, broke the chasing curse in style, chasing down a mammoth 196.
In terms of what kind of a game we can expect, a lot will depend on the strip that the match will be played on. Wednesday’s clash was played on a fresh strip, and that saw 196 being chased down on a belter of a wicket. But Monday’s clash between Punjab and Chennai saw the Kings defend 187. A day prior to that, Lucknow comfortably defended 168 against Mumbai.
Either way, if we are to look at the bowling stats from the last three games at the venue, it’s the pacers who have taken an overwhelming majority of the wickets. The last three games at the Wankhede witnessed a staggering 81% of the wickets being taken by the pacers. And notably they weren’t far too expensive compared to the spinners, either, conceding at 8.9 compared to the 8.1 of the slower bowlers.
Both Delhi and KKR do not have raw pace in their line-up - assuming Anrich Nortje to be unfit - so with the likes of Kuldeep, Axar, Narine and Varun set to take part, the sides will be hoping that the Wankhede wicket, on Thursday, offers reasonable purchase for the slower bowlers.
Team selection
Captain selection
Who else but Dre Russ? Kolkata might be having a season to forget, but Andre Russell is batting AND bowling as well as he ever has. The Big Jamaican, so far this season, has scored 227 runs at an average of 45.40 and a SR of 180.15, and has also taken 10 wickets to go along with it. In KKR’s last game against GT, he struck 48 with the bat while taking 4/5 with the bat. He is a fantasy player’s dream, and it’s a no-brainer to anoint him the captain.
Our Criclytics Player Projection predicts Russell to score 16-24 runs and pick 5-6 wkts vs DC
X-factors
Make no mistake, these two sides have some quality individuals. But when it comes to fantasy, there is none you would want to back more than David Warner, who is in some form. Warner has amassed three fifties in his last 4 matches - 61, 66 and 60* - and even in the last match where he ‘failed’, he managed 28 off just 14 balls. Incidentally, this good run of form started against the Knight Riders, against whom he posted his first fifty of the season. Don’t simply back Warner, we suggest you make him the vice-captain of the team as well.
Our Criclytics Player Projection predicts Warner to score 33-53 runs against KKR
It would be impossible to ignore Prithvi Shaw after having talked about Warner. The Australian himself is having a great season, but what about Shaw? He’s amassed 254 runs at a remarkable SR of 164.93. And his last 5 scores also read 37, 41, 16, 51 and 61, with all of them having come in rapid time. In fact, in the last H2H meeting, Shaw tore into KKR, striking 51 off just 29 balls. He is right-up there with Warner and Russell as a player to watch out for.
Our Criclytics Player Projection predicts Shaw to score 33-49 runs on Thursday
Tim Southee’s performances this season have flown under the radar, but he’s right up there as one of the best performing seamers in the league. Despite being in and out of the side, the Kiwi has managed to pick 8 wickets in 3 games at an astounding ER of 6.66. Thanks to the return of Pat Cummins, Southee was harshly dropped after the first two matches, but against the Titans, he returned to the playing XI in style, finishing with figures of 3/24. Expect the veteran to once again cause trouble for the batters on Thursday.
Our Criclytics Player Projection predicts Southee to pick 3-4 wickets against DC
Here are top-10 Criclytics suggestions
Probable XIs
DC: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Khaleel Ahmed
KKR: Aaron Finch, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
