The probability of Andre Russell not playing tonight will give Delhi more reasons to feel optimistic about securing their playoff berth by defeating the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Delhi Capitals will fancy their chances of securing a play-off berth when they face Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League Tuesday. A cloud of uncertainty over Andre Russell's participation gives Delhi more reasons to feel optimistic ahead of their afternoon match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. (More Cricket News)
Eyeing a maiden title triumph, DC are on a roll having dominated most of their opponents in IPL 2021, and look pretty confident of not just making the play-offs but also doing one better than last year when they lost to Mumbai Indians in the summit showdown.
DC are placed second in the IPL 2021 table with eight wins and 16 points from 10 outings, while two-time winners KKR find themselves in the fourth position with four wins and six defeats.
While the Delhi Capitals are coming off a crushing win over Rajasthan Royals in the previous outing, KKR will enter the game after having suffered a reversal at the hands of Chennai Super Kings.
KKR missed Russell towards the end after he walked off the field with a hamstring problem, having bowled three decent overs. In his absence, Prasidh Krishna was given the responsibility of bowling the 19th over, and even though he has impressed with his death bowling in the past, he had no answer to a marauding Ravindra Jadeja on Sunday.
KKR will have their task cut out when they take to the field against DC. Eoin Morgan and his team know there will be very little margin for error. KKR will have to deliver on all fronts if they are to challenge the might of Delhi Capitals.
The likes of Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gill will have to fire in unison. Rahul Tripathi will enter the game with some confidence, having top-scored with a brisk 45 against CSK. Then, the bowlers will have to stick to the plans.
DC, on the other hand put up a stellar display to beat Rajasthan Royals in the last outing and going by their form, DC are likely to continue in the same vein. Rishab Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and Shimron Hetmyer are all very dangerous with the bat.
Teams (from):
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Ripal Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimrom Hetmyar, Shreyas Iyer, Steve Smith, Amit Mishra, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan, Ben Dwarshuis, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lukman Meriwala, Pravin Dubey, Tom Curran, Umesh Yadav, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sam Billings and Vishnu Vinod.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Eoin Morgan (captain), Dinesh Karthik, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathy, Shubman Gill, Harbhajan Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pawan Negi, M Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Dube, Tim Southee, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russel, Ben Cutting, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson, Tim Seifert.