New Delhi: Delhi Capitals would aim for an improved batting effort in the middle overs when they face a struggling Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday.
DC have suffered two defeats in their last four matches, including a loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday, and will look to avoid any hiccups at the business end of the tournament.
Abhishek Porel has batted with plenty of aggressive intent at the top of the order but veteran Faf fu Plessis will quickly need to get used the slow nature of surface at Kotla after struggling in his comeback game.
KL Rahul has been DC’s leading run-getter this season but could not accelerate against the spinners on Sunday night. He would back himself to take on the likes of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy. .
With quality spinners in their ranks, KKR could pose a stiff challenge for the home. The Ajinkya Rahane led-side is slightly low on confidence after a tough outing against Punjab Kings in a rain-hit match.
A solid innings is expected from Karun Nair to ensure Rahul isn’t left to shoulder the burden alone in the middle-order.
In the bowling department, DC skipper Axar Patel led from the front with two wickets but found little support from others. Star pacer Mitchell Starc, who went wicketless against RCB, will look to exploit the weaknesses in his former team, while Kuldeep Yadav, with his deceptive googlies, remains a threat in the middle overs.
DC’s fielding has also left much to be desired against RCB, with Porel dropping a crucial catch of Krunal Pandya on Sunday night.
KKR, meanwhile, have managed just seven points so far and are placed seventh in the standings, having failed to collect any points from their last three matches, including two losses and a no-result.
Rahane will be desperate to arrest the slide and keep their playoff hopes alive, with another defeat making the task tougher.
Issues have cropped up across departments for KKR.
Their batting lacks a settled look, with Quinton de Kock and Rahmanullah Gurbaz being rotated in the opening slot alongside Narine, while the side has relied heavily on Rahane and youngster Angkrish Raghuvanshi to score runs.
The middle-order trio of Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh has struggled to make a significant impact.
Bowling has been another area of concern, with KKR failing to break opening stands, allowing teams to post big totals — as seen in the last game where PBKS added 120 for the opening wicket.
While KKR managed to pull things back at the death, it will require a collective effort from Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, and Harshit Rana to stem the flow of runs against DC.
Delhi Capitals
Axar Patel (c), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Sameer Rizvi, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreira, Tripurana Vijay, Dushmantha Chameera, Faf du Plessis, T Natarajan, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Manvanth Kumar L, Madhav Tiwari.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Chetan Sakariya.