A day’s break between two high-intensity games may not be enough for players to recover but both Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Capitals would be hoping their respective morale-boosting victories — in contrasting fashion — on Saturday would give the required momentum when they face off here on Monday.
Delhi, which registered its second win of the season, travels for its first away game here, high on Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer’s brilliant batting and the Super Over heroics of Kagiso Rabada.
KXIP was more than relieved to finally see K.L. Rahul get back among runs, with some help from wayward MI bowling. Both would want their respective youngsters to continue leading the charge.
ADVERTISEMENT
No practice
With the teams opting out of practice on the eve of the game — Delhi had an optional one under lights but the main players all opted out — the focus would be on execution on a pitch that, on Saturday, had something for both batsmen and bowlers but required patience and commitment.
There are concerns for both sides. KXIP managed to restrict Mumbai to an under-par score but, barring skipper R. Ashwin and his leg-spinning namesake, gave away quite a few loose deliveries. Against the Delhi batting of Rishabh Pant, Iyer, Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan, they could be disastrous for the team.
ADVERTISEMENT
The team has had handy contributions from its middle order but would hope for a lot more consistency – barring Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle, no other player has managed to score enough in all three games so far.
Giving away too many runs is an area Delhi would also be wary of. Shaw and Shreyas’ batting helped overshadow the poor performance with the ball through the game even though Rabada redeemed himself in the Super Over.
That the team was unable to cross the finish line in regulation time, despite needing only 15 runs in the last two overs, and lost three wickets in that period would also not make the skipper happy and Delhi would not want another semi-choke at the end even as Punjab hopes to take advantage of familiar conditions to continue defending its fortress.
Teams (from):
Kings XI Punjab : Ravichandran Ashwin (capt), Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Agrawal, Karun Nair, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and David Miller, Sam Curran, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nicholas Pooran, Moises Henriques, Hardus Viljoen, Darshan Nalkande, Sarfaraz Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Agnivesh Ayachi, Harpreet Brar, Murugan Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot, Mandeep Singh, Simran Singh.
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (capt), Colin Munro, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Hanuma Vihari, Colin Ingram, Manjot Kalra, Chris Morris, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Jalaj Saxena, Rahul Tewatia, Rishabh Pant, Ankush Bains, Sandeep Lamichhane, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Trent Boult, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Nathu Singh and Bandaru Ayyappa.
Match starts at 8 pm (IST).