Kolkata Knight Riders were doing spectacularly well in this IPL 2019 until last match when they were beaten by M.S. Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings. CSK are now the top dogs of the IPL 2019 , and it looks like there is a real gulf between them and the other sides.
Where does that leave the KKR? KKR have arguably the best cricketer in the world – Andre Russell. But the problem is they are too dependent on him. When Russell fails to perform with the bat – not so much with the ball – KKR tend to lose.
That is why they lost to CSK in the last game. Captain Dinesh Karthik knows that and he also knows he has to perform better with the bat. Not just him, others like Robin Uthappa and Chris Lynn have done precious little. Shubham Gill too hasn’t done anything much when young players of his age group such as Pritvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant – who shall feature for Delhi Capitals – have set the IPL alight.
Of course, Delhi Capitals have largely disappointed after their bright start. They now require five wins out of the next eight matches to get through to the play offs.
Their main issue is overdependence on young players. Even their captain, Shreyas Iyer, is an untested young player who has not really done much of note in this career so far.
That is one reason why we don’t expect this young team to win tonight’s game against KKR. But if Pant is on fire, who knows what could happen?
The Teams
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Chris Lynn, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Shubman Gill, 6 Dinesh Karthik (capt & wk), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Harry Gurney, 11 Prasidh Krishna
Delhi Capitals: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Colin Ingram, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10, Ishant Sharma/Amit Mishra, 11 Sandeep Lamichhane/Trent Boult
Prediction: KKR to win, but watch out for Rishabh Pant. He is the X factor and could swing the match away from them.
