Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders were both forced to make changes in their playing XI due to injuries to top players. While KKR were forced to bench all-rounder Andre Russell, DC will be without opener Prithvi Shaw in the IPL 2021 clash at the Sharjah cricket stadium.
Russell injured his hamstring in KKR’s last match against Chennai Super Kings and was replaced in the XI by New Zealand paceman Tim Southee – making his KKR debut. Shaw, meanwhile, is also suffering from a niggle and was replaced by Steve Smith. DC had played with only three overseas players in their last match and as a result Smith slotted into the side as the 4th overseas player.
“Wicket is slow, 150-160 will be a good total. We are always taking one game at a time. Hopefully we can win today and confirm qualification. Shaw is injured, Steve Smith comes in,” captain Rishabh Pant said at the toss.
Sample that for a friendly welcome #VIVOIPL | #KKRvDC | @harbhajan_singh | @SDhawan25 pic.twitter.com/n2dvd4GrZo
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In their last game against KKR in IPL 2021, Prithvi was the ‘Shaw-stopper’. Chasing 155 in Ahmedabad, Shaw smacked Shivam Mavi for 6 fours in the very first over, his ferocious start ensuring the rest of the chase was a mere formality, wrapping up the match inside 17 overs.
The Delhi Capitals are just one of two teams yet to lose a game in UAE this season. A couple of more points on the board on Tuesday (September 28) will secure our third playoff spot in a row, making us the first team to advance to the knockout stages this season.
KKR, on the other hand, have been on a roll since IPL 2021 resumed in UAE. The reverse against CSK in the last match was their first ones after a couple of big wins.
“Not sure how the wicket will play. It’s not a belter, it’s not too difficult. As a team we are very focused on game by game. It wasn’t long ago that we were second from bottom. Guys are putting in good performances collectively and individually. My form ‘not really’ a concern. It goes around like a roller coaster, I try to ride it as I can. Russell misses out, Southee plays. Warrier replaces Prasidh,” Morgan said at the toss.
Meanwhile, Pant’s run-a-ball 24 in the last game took him one step closer to the top spot in the Delhi Capitals’ run-getter leaderboard. The DC skipper is just 32 runs behind Virender Sehwag as Capitals’ all-time leading run-scorer in T20 cricket.
Playing XI:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Sandeep Warrier
Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shimron Hetmyer, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan
