Big picture: Can KKR hit the scoring pedal?
KKR will also be pleased that DC have had no real home advantage this season; DC have won just one out of five matches at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. They started by falling short by one run against Gujarat Titans, they failed to defend 264 against Punjab Kings, they were then rolled over for 75 by Royal Challengers Bengaluru and were restricted to 155 earlier this week by the Chennai Super Kings spinners.
Against KKR, DC face a spin challenge again, that too against the duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, who have ensured KKR’s spin attack holds the best economy rate (8.10) and have the most wickets (25) so far in this IPL. The number of changes DC have made to their middle order doesn’t bode well for the kind of stability they would want against the KKR spin twins. Even though KL Rahul has led the charge for them in the middle overs (7 to 16) with a strike rate of 211 – only behind Rajat Patidar’s 217 (minimum 100 runs) – DC have used nine different batters from Nos. 4 to 8 with only four of them getting more than five innings. Their unsettled line-up also reflects in the fact that DC have used five different batters each at Nos. 4, 7 and 8.
If KKR get rid of Rahul early, the bulk of the responsibility in the middle overs will fall on Tristan Stubbs, David Miller and Sameer Rizvi. Overall, DC have aced a couple of chases, but they have not earned a single victory batting first, which could again put them in a tricky spot to gauge what a par score could be on the Delhi track.
KKR themselves have been far from the most explosive line-up in their eight completed games. They have changed Ajinkya Rahane’s opening partner a few times and have moved their Nos. 3 to 5 around. If it turns out to be a high-scoring game, batters like Rahane and Angrkish Raghuvanshi may also have to keep up with the tournament’s rising strike rate from their current numbers of 131.41 and 137.43, respectively.
While the focus is all on the top five, who are separated by just two points, a fourth straight win for KKR will help them overtake DC to go seventh.
Form guide
Delhi Capitals LWLLL (last five matches, most recent first)
Kolkata Knight Riders WWWLL
Key question
Team news: Will Pathirana finally play?
While Matheesha Pathirana has been with the squad for a while, KKR have stuck to their four overseas combination of Narine, Rovman Powell, Cameron Green and one out of Finn Allen and Tim Seifert. KKR don’t want to rush Pathirana back with mentor Dwayne Bravo suggesting that “he is very close to playing”. They may not see a reason to change the XI otherwise.
Kolkata Knight Riders (probable): 1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 Finn Allen, 3 Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), 4 Rinku Singh, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Manish Pandey, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Anukul Roy, 10 Kartik Tyagi, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Vaibhav Arora
Lungi Ngidi was back for DC in the last game, in place of Kyle Jamieson, and should retain his place. Kuldeep Yadav’s wicketless returns of 75 runs in seven overs in the last two matches will worry them.
Delhi Capitals (probable): 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Karun Nair, 5 Axar Patel (capt), 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Sameer Rizvi, 8 Ashutosh Sharma, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Kuldeep Yadav, 12 T Natarajan
In the spotlight: Kuldeep Yadav and Angkrish Raghuvanshi
Stats and trivia
- Once a Test-match contest, we could see Mitchell Starc bowl to Ajinkya Rahane on Friday. In six T20s, Rahane has struck at only 133 against Starc for 44 runs while being dismissed once.
- KL Rahul’s strike rate against Narine is 151 but drops to 102 while facing Varun.
- Kuldeep could draw some confidence from his record against Rahane: two dismissals in five innings with a strike rate of just 70.
- DC last beat KKR in the 2023 IPL.
- Rahul has scored 26% of DC’s runs so far this season.
- Axar Patel has managed just one double-digit score from seven innings this IPL.
Pitch and conditions
The pitch to be used for Friday will host the first evening game of this tournament. Two day matches have been played here. On the first occasion, DC chased down 163 against MI and on the second occasion, PBKS chased 265. The team winning the toss might still prefer chasing for a 7.30pm game. Some parts of north India have been witnessing showers but the forecast for Delhi is clear for Friday, with the temperature expected to remain in the early 30s during the game, which will make it extremely hot.
Quotes
“If you look at the stats throughout this season, KKR are one of the better bowling groups… especially from overs No. 7 to 20, and that’s because of our spin attack. We have three of the best quality spinners in the tournament. Tim Southee, the bowling coach, and myself: what we bring is that we try to teach and coach real game-time things, that they expect to happen in a game and, and get our guys to practice like that.”
KKR mentor Dwayne Bravo
“The pitches, they have been a bit different, I wouldn’t, I mean it’s not impossible to play. I think we scored, what was it, 260 plays 260, then there’s been one or two low scores, so it has been a little bit different. But look, I mean that’s the nature of cricket, you’re always having to adapt to the conditions and what lies in front of you. Potentially chasing might be an option to see what total you know you have to score on a wicket that you’re not too sure what it’s gonna do.”
David Miller said the Delhi tracks haven’t been consistent
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
