IPL 2021, DC vs PBKS. (BCCI/IPL)DC vs PBKS Team Predicted Playing 11 Today Match: It’s a double-header on Sunday, and in the first match of the day Kolkata Knight Riders take on table-toppers Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai.
In the second game of the day, Delhi Capitals take on Punjab Kings. Both teams are coming into the ‘Norther Derby’ of IPL after facing defeats in their previous games.
Delhi Capitals Squad: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Tom Curran, Chris Woakes, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Shimron Hetmyer, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Steven Smith, Anrich Nortje, Sam Billings, Lukman Meriwala, Praveen Dubey, Aniruddha Joshi, Vishnu Vinod, Manimaran Siddharth, Shams Mulani, Ripal Patel
Punjab Kings Squad: KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Jhye Richardson, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Riley Meredith, Arshdeep Singh, Moises Henriques, Mandeep Singh, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Jalaj Saxena, Sarfaraz Khan, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Utkarsh Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Prabhsimran Singh, Harpreet Brar
KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Jhye Richardson, Jalaj Saxena, Mohammed Shami, Riley Meredith, Arshdeep Singh
Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Chris Woakes, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Lukman Meriwala
"We will like to bowl first." Rishabh Pant wins the toss.
So Smith will be in the playing eleven!
Delhi Capitals pacer Anrich Nortje feels dew is a major factor besides the actual Wankhede wicket.
DC have lost ten of the 13 H2Hs when batting first
18/26 H2Hs have been won by the chasing team
Rabada has taken 2+ wickets in 11 of his last 18 IPL matches
Arshdeep has taken 2+ wickets in his last 3
The weaknesses of both the teams are pretty similar. If Ajinkya Rahane’s lack of power-hitting and Marcus Stoinis’ indifferent show is affecting the DC middle-order, Mayank Agarwal’s prolonged bad-patch coupled with Nicholas Pooran’s susceptibility to short balls over his shoulder are not great news for Punjab either.
The middle-orders’ struggles in both the dugouts will make it an engrossing contest with DC bowlers expected to hold sway in Nortje’s presence. In case of Punjab Kings, save Mohammed Shami, the two high-priced pacers — Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith — haven’t exactly set the stage on fire. Neither has Murugan Ashwin, a mystery spinner who has done nothing of note that would force Pant and Ponting to have sleepless nights.
Both teams are top heavy in batting with DC dependant on Shaw, Dhawan and Pant for doing the bulk of scoring while the same job profile is held by KL Rahul, Chris Gayle and Deepak Hooda in the Punjab line-up.
Pant, relatively inexperienced in terms of IPL captaincy, lost the plot in the last game where he didn’t finish his best bowler Ravichandran Ashwin’s quota and instead used Tom Curran’s friendly medium pacers.
Both teams are coming into the ‘Norther Derby’ of IPL after enduring defeats in their previous games but Delhi Capitals are definitely a better side on paper.
Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant will aim to display better tactical acumen in Catch-22 situations against a ‘blow-hot-blow-cold’ Punjab Kings in what promises to be a battle of brittle middle-orders in an IPL match on Sunday.
Delhi Probable XI: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Chris Woakes, Kagiso Rabada, R Ashwin, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan
Punjab Probable XI: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Jhye Richardson, Murugan Ashwin, Chris Jordan/Riley Meredith, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Always a high-octane clash!
The second game of the day will be Delhi vs Punjab. There have been 26 matches between the two teams, Punjab hold the edge with 15 wins. The addition of Anrich Nortje to the Delhi bubble comes as a boost. Stay tuned as we build up towards the game.
Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(c), Shakib Al Hasan, Dinesh Karthik(w), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
Virat Kohli(c), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers(w), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
"It is a day game. This pitch seems a little bit dry. Compared to the last game look drier and darker. This might not be the same high-scoring game. Spinners might play an important, especially with the longer square boundaries. Win the toss and bat first," says Murali Karthik.
Virat Kohli(c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers(w), Washington Sundar, Daniel Christian, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(c), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Shakib Al Hasan, Pat Cummins, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
“I wanted to give Morgan a chance because it was really important, we had played seven and there were seven more games to go, so we had enough time. It would have been very unfair of me to move on if we were doing so badly that we had no chance further in the tournament,” Karthik was quoted as saying in a video on KKR’s website.
RCB: 49 vs Kolkata Knight Riders (2017)
KKR: 67 vs Mumbai Indians (2008)
RCB: 263/5 vs Gujarat Lions (2013)
KKR: 245/6 vs Kings XI Punjab (2018)
"The way he approaches the game compliments the way I like to go about things. He is competitive, aggressive and he likes to take the game on and it is certainly what I like to adopt as well. I think that's filtered through the team as well and hopefully, it will set us up for a few more win."
Kolkata and Bangalore have met each other 27 times in the IPL since 2008, and the red and gold hold a 15-12 win-loss advantage. In the last five encounters between the two sides, the Royal Challengers hold a slight edge over the Knight Riders, winning three times.
Eoin Morgan has a poor record against RCB: In 7 innings he has scored 81 runs at an average of 13.5 and a strike rate of 93.1. On the other hand, since IPL 2020, Kohli strikes at 104.14 in the middle overs, with balls per boundary as high as 17.5.
It's the first day game of the season and it will be interesting to note the change in tactics of the two teams. In Chennai, three out of four games have been won by sides batting first. Will the misfiring Kolkata Knight Riders bring their campaign back on track when they take on table-toppers Royal Challengers Bangalore. Stay tuned as we build-up to the match.