FANTASY
Follow UsLucknow Super Giants (LSG) look to continue their winning streak in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 with Delhi Capitals (DC) being their next hurdle. The two sides are set to clash at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai on Thursday (April 7).
While Lucknow have won two out of three, Delhi, after beating Mumbai Indians (MI) in their first match, succumbed to a 14-run defeat at the hands of Gujarat Titans (GT) in the next game. This will be the first-ever meeting between the two sides in IPL.
Availability of players
Dashing opener David Warner is set to be available from this game for DC, which is a huge boost. While we will not see Mitchell Marsh in action for this match, he should be fit for their next match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday (April 10). There are no injury concerns as far as LSG are concerned and will have a full squad to pick from for this tie.
Ground details
Pace has ruled the roost at the DY Patil Stadium this season so far, having picked up over 71% of the wickets to fall. While the spinners have been a tad economical (7.7) compared to the fast bowlers (8.8), the latter have much better runs per wicket (24.7) and balls per wicket (16.8) ratio at the venue. Spinners are slowly and steadily getting into the game and as the tournament progresses, won’t be surprised to see them doing bulk of the damage.
For now, it could benefit you to stock your team with the quicks, but at the same time, also pick a quality spinner or two, which both teams are not short of.
In the first two matches, the teams chasing got over the line, however, the team batting first have had the last laugh in the last two matches. If there is not much dew, as it has been for the last couple of games, the trend could very well continue.
Team selection
Captain selection
KL Rahul roared back to form with a match-winning 68 in the previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at this very venue and the Lucknow skipper will once again be key in this match for his side. Only Faf du Plessis (755) has scored more runs than Rahul (734), having done so at an incredible average of 56.46 and strike-rate of 139. He has also scored seven fifties from 16 innings in this period, making him among the most consistent batters in the league.
Our Criclytics Player Projector predicts Rahul could score 26-38 runs in this match
With seven wickets at 13.57 in IPL 2022 so far, Avesh Khan is soon developing into one of the lethal fast bowlers in India. In IPL since 2021, Avesh has picked up 31 wickets at 17.6 to go with an economy rate of 7.5. Only Harshal Patel with 36 wickets has more in this period. He will go into this game at the back of an impressive spell of 4 for 24 against SRH and will hope to wreak havoc once again. Moreover, we Avesh has gone wicketless just once in his last 10 IPL innings, picking up two or more wickets in four of those matches, making him a must-have player in your fantasy side.
Our Criclytics Player Projector predicts Avesh could pick up 2-3 wickets in this match
David Warner is all but set to return to the IPL, this time though he will be in the DC camp, after having many successful seasons with SRH. Warner’s inclusion is a massive boost the top of the order. While he hit a bit of a bump last season, but redeemed himself with a player of the tournament-winning effort in the T20 World Cup. He has not played T20s since the final, where he smashed a fifty to help Australia to their maiden title. He has fur fifties from his last six T20 innings and is coming off the back of a couple of fifties in the recent Test series against Pakistan as well. Safe to say, Warner will be rearing to go.
Our Criclytics Player Projector predicts Rahul could score 34-50 runs in this match.
Another crucial cog in DC’s line-up, Mustafizur Rahman will look to replicate his efforts from the previous match here. He finished with figures of 3 for 23 from his four overs against the Gujarat Titans (GT). As someone who could bowl in any phase of the match, Mustafizur is sure to have a massive impact not just on the match, but also in your fantasy team.
Our Criclytics Player Projector predicts Mustafizur could pick up 1-2 wickets in this match.
Here are the top-10 picks as per Criclytics projected points
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mandeep Singh, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Lalit Yadav, Rovman Powell, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Manish Pandey, Evin Lewis, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Andrew Tye, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan
