It's Pant vs Shreyas

April 03, 2024 19:15

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer has won the toss and opted to bat against Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

On what is expected to be a belter of a track, the KKR captain expects Sunil Narine and Andre Russell to come up with the goods tonight.

Playing XIs

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Rasikh Dar Salam, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Impact subs:

Delhi Capitals: Abishek Porel, Kumar Kushagra, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav, Jake Fraser-McGurk

Kolkata Knight Riders: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Rahmanullah Gurbazni

Delhi Capitals would be keen to prove that their comfortable win against Chennai Super Kings was not a flash in the pan while Kolkata Knight Riders would be eyeing a hat-trick of victories when the two sides face off in the IPL, in Visakhapatnam, on Wednesday.

The Capitals would be buoyed by the 20-run victory on Sunday, their first of the season, against defending champions CSK who were outsmarted by Rishabh Pant and Co. in all departments of the game.

And come Wednesday, the Capitals will have to put another such performance against KKR, whose batters pummelled Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowlers to notch their second win of the season on March 29.

For DC, the onus will be on Prithvi Shaw and veteran Australian David Warner to provide a solid start.

Meanwhile, Pant continues his inspirational journey. After two scratchy innings, the skipper gave a glimpse of his devastating best as he scored his maiden fifty (51 off 32 balls) of the season and seems to be slowly finding his groove.

The likes of South African Tristan Stubbs and Australian Mitchell Marsh, both capable of launching an assault on the opposition, need to be better towards the end as DC lack domestic power hitters.

While Stubbs showcased his prowess with the bat against Rajasthan Royals, a consistent show from him will do a world of good for DC.

Marsh is yet to produce a glimpse of his brute power with the willow which could prove to be DC's lethal weapon.

South African Anrich Nortje is yet to find his rhythm as he returned to action after a long injury layoff. The Capitals' Indian pace unit will thus have to punch above its weight against a formidable KKR side.

KKR, on the other hand, have looked good this season, registering two wins from as many games. Opener Phil Salt, all-rounder Andre Rusell and Venkatesh Iyer have been in good nick in the first two games and would look to pose a challenge for the Delhi pacers.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer also got some runs under his belt in the win against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Rookie pacer Harshit Rana has impressed so far, picking five wickets in two outings, but Mitchell Starc, their record buy, and Varun Chakravarthy have gone for runs aplenty.

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