KKR and Royals are the only unbeaten teams in IPL 2024
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Visakhapatnam might be Delhi Capitals’ alternate home venue, but it was a sea of yellow when they played here a few days ago. The game against Chennai Super Kings was too much for them – especially MS Dhoni. When they take on Kolkata Knight Riders, the Capitals will be hoping for some more red and blue in the stands as they look to climb the points table.
Capitalists know what it’s like to fall behind at the start of the IPL. They have lost their first five games in IPL 2023, making it difficult to get back into the tournament. With that in mind, the win against CSK was important.
They lack the batting depth that some other teams boast, and will need their top order to fire back and keep firing in the tournament.
Importantly, in IPL 2024, Prithvi Shaw against KKR and David Warner against CSK scored great runs – no one scored more runs than Warner’s 1075 runs against KKR, though Shaw has. . 45 against the average, and his highest score of 99 in 2019 also came against them.
Rishabh Pant’s move to No.3 against CSK showed positive intent from the Capitals and he quickly repaid the faith with a half-century.
But they will also want runs from other batsmen.
They had a scare in the season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad but came away with a clinical win against RCB. KKR don’t have many holes to plug, but one area that needs picking is their power play bowling.
It’s still the first day of the tournament, but KKR have the poorest power play economy of all teams so far – 10.75. It partly started Mitchell Stark’s nightmare IPL season. In situations where swing and seam can help, Stark will expect better returns.
The batting pack will remain the same without Andre Russell, Phil Salt and Venkatesh Iyer.
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KKR and Royals are the only unbeaten teams in IPL 2024
Delhi Capitals: KKR and Royals are the only unbeaten teams in IPL 2024
The Capitals brought in Shaw for the previous game, a move that paid off. Later he was buried on the arrival of Rasikh Salam. If the Capitals bowl first, depending on the surface, Salam or Lalit Yadav have a chance to make the starting XI, with Shaw coming in later. Vice versa if they bat first.
Kuldeep Yadav missed the game against CSK due to injury and the Capitals hope that he will be back soon if possible for this game.
KKR and Royals are the only unbeaten teams in IPL 2024 at that stage ,Another concern for the Capitals is the form of their two foreign players, Tristan Stubbs and Enrich Nortje. Stubbs was clean for a first-ball wicket against CSK, while Nortje has been rusty in his two outings so far. Jay Richardson bowled at full tilt in the nets earlier in the Capitals’ previous game and can slot Nortje if he wants to give him a break.
Probable XI: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 David Warner, 3 Rishabh Pant (captain, wick), 4 Mitchell Marsh 5 Tristan Stubbs/Jake Fraser-McGurk, 6 Akshar Patel, 7 Abhishek Porel, 8 Henrik Nortje/Jay Richardson, 9, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Khalil Ahmed, 12 Rasikh Salam/Lalit Yadav.
Kolkata Knight Riders: KKR and Royals are the only unbeaten teams in IPL 2024
Varun Chakraborty bowled just two overs in KKR’s previous game before subbing Angkit Raghuvanshi. Leg spinner Squash Sharma is another option for that spot, with dominant player Raghuvanshi again swapping places with Squash or Chakraborty.
Venkatesh was seen tweeting his back and blocking KKR’s previous game, but bowling coach Bharat Arun confirmed that he is “fit and growing”.
Probable XI: 1 Phil Salt (wicketkeeper), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Venkatesh Iyer, 4 Shreyas Iyer (captain), 5 Angkrish Raghuvanshi 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Anukul Roy, 10 Jan . . . . . . . . . . . Rana, 12 Varun Chakraborty/Suyash Sharma.