FANTASY
Follow UsFresh on the back of comprehensive victories, Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKC) face off in the 29th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. After losing narrowly to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), DC made light work of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to go second in the standings. Punjab, meanwhile, are languishing at the fifth position on the table following their big win against RCB.
In the IPL, the two teams have clashed on 27 occasions and PBKC have won 15 of them. However, DC has won three off their last five matches. Punjab had been superior in the past ten encounters, winning six of them.
IPL HEAD-TO-HEAD
Overall - Matches – 27 | Punjab – 15 Wins | Delhi – 12 Wins
Last five games – Delhi – 2 Wins| Punjab – 2 Wins
While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your own team from Cricket.com’s Fantasy Research Centre. Based on algorithms, we have come up with one team.
Ground Details and Team Combination
In the four matches played in Ahmedabad this season, the teams batting first have scored less than 160 twice, which were chased down quite easily. However, Punjab and RCB have been able to score 170 or above batting first which shows that there are possibilities of a big score.
The pitch at Motera has often favoured pacers as they have claimed over 66 per cent of the wickets in T20s since 2019, striking every 20 balls. However, spinners have a better economy of 7.2 compared to that of 8.1 for the pacers despite claiming 54 wickets in the past 16 T20s at the venue.
There could be some interesting matchups too.
The clash between KL Rahul and Amit Mishra will be an interesting one. Punjab skipper Rahul has been the biggest contributor with the bat as he leads the race for orange cap with 331 runs from 7 innings. His unbeaten 91 from 57 balls in the last match helped his team set RCB a target of 180 which it won by a margin of 34 runs. Against Mishra, Rahul has 49 off 20 balls across 4 innings in T20s at a strike rate of 245 without ever being dismissed. The Punjab captain has been excellent at accelerating his scoring in the middle and death overs, which will pose Mishra a bigger challenge.
Marcus Stoinis has not been in the best of form as he was last season, but he will be looking forward to facing Chris Jordan. Over six T20 innings, the Australian has smashed Jordan for 87 runs at a strike rate of 241 and has never been dismissed by the England pacer.
Captain Selection
KL Rahul has been in supreme touch this season, scoring four fifties which include two 90-plus scores. His team have been heavily reliant on their skipper for runs as all their wins this season have come when he top-scored for them. If he can receive support from Chris Gayle and Prabhsimran Singh in the top order, Punjab might have chance to move up the table.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Rahul could score 33-49 runs in this match.
X-Factors
Prithvi Shaw
Following his patchy form at the beginning of the season, the young opener has found his rhythm with a blistering 82 off 41 balls against KKR as DC coasted to a seven-wicket victory in the last game. He seems to have found confidence in picking his areas of scoring as he had dispatched anything bowled on the off-stump for the ropes in the previous match was good with his footwork against the spinners.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Shaw could score 40-60 runs in this match.
Avesh Khan
has been enjoying a great IPL season as he stands second in the purple cap race with 13 wickets from seven matches. He has the discipline to restrict the batsmen in the powerplay and at good amount of variations at the death as he possesses an economy of 7.4 bowling on a batter-friendly wicket.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Khan could pick up 0-1 wickets in this match.
Shimron Hetmyer is an asset to have in any team as he has the ability to ramp up the scoring in the middle and final overs. The left-hander has hit 56 percent of his deliveries for boundaries and averages 53 while batting in the final five overs this season.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Hetmyer could score 17-25 runs in this match.
