What

The Kolkata Knight Riders will look to preserve their undefeated status when they take on the Delhi Capitals in Match 10 of VIVO IPL 2019.

The Knight Riders are two from two; in KKR’s season opener, Andre Russell turned the match on its head with a sensational blitz and powered his to a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the second match, an all-round show – which included yet another blitz from Russell – helped KKR to a win over Kings XI Punjab.

The Delhi Capitals have won one win and one loss under their belt this season. After defeating the Mumbai Indians convincingly in their season opener, they went down against the Chennai Super Kings in match two. Shreyas Iyer and company would have analysed their performance in the match against CSK and would have made notes on areas they need to improve.

When

30 March 2019, 8pm IST

Where

Feroze Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi

Previous Match XIs:

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Colin Ingram, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robbie Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson.

Protagonists

Shikhar Dhawan has made scores of 43 and 51 in the two innings this season. The left-hander has played his part to perfection – dropping anchor and batting deep into the innings; Delhi Capitals could be better served with a little more aggression from the left-hander who has an overall strike-rate of 113.25 this season. Rishabh Pant has been hitting the ball well, and the Delhi Capitals will eye yet another impact knock from their wicketkeeper-batsman; Pant facing up to the Knight Riders’ spinners promises to make for an interesting contest.

While Andre Russell has made all the headlines – his two blitzes powering KKR to wins and earning him two Man of the Match awards, one should not overlook the contributions made by Robbie Uthappa and Nitish Rana. What has stood out is both Uthappa and Rana have not had to try too hard to score their runs; Rana has two half-centuries against his name – with 76.3% of his runs coming through boundaries, while Uthappa has been happy to play second fiddle, rotating the strike often while picking up the occasional boundary.

 If Kagiso Rabada runs in full steam and bowls his best – like he did in the Delhi Capitals’ first two matches, the Knight Riders batsmen should expect to be asked a few uncomfortable questions.

The surface at the Feroze Shah Kotla Ground has historically favoured the spinners; in the last seven IPL matches played at the venue, the economy rate of spinners reads 7.94 runs per over, while the quicks have leaked runs at 9.47 runs per over. One can expect the surface to be sluggish like it was in the previous match, and hence one would be advised to keep an eye on the line-up of quality spinners who will take the field; if the Delhi Capitals boast of Amit Mishra in their ranks, the Knight Riders have three quality spinners in their line-up in Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla.

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 21, Delhi Capitals – 8, Kolkata Knight Riders - 13.

Trivia

Both Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine have gone wicketless in both matches this season.

The Delhi Capitals have batted first in the last seven IPL matches played at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground.

Dinesh Karthik, because of his previous association with the Delhi franchise, has scored more IPL runs at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground than at any other venue. His IPL record at the Kotla reads: 23 innings, 586 runs, 5 fifties.