Rishabh Pant’s men suffered a narrow one-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). They were on the back foot for most part but a late surge enabled them to push from victory. It remains to be seen how mentally drained they are after the efforts against RCB. KKR registered a much-needed win against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their last game. Will it lead to a momentum shift in their fortunes for IPL 2021?
DC shouldn’t be too concerned about their loss against RCB. It was just a day off in the office. They lost their top three Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and Steve Smith cheaply in a challenging chase and it hurt them in the end. Also, Pant learnt a new lesson that sometimes, even the best hitters, might not be able to get the clean strikes if it is not your day. Shimron Hetmyer’s brilliance was the biggest takeaway for DC from the heartbreaking loss.
Except for the 20th over bowled by Marcus Stoinis, DC were decent with the ball. Avesh Khan impressed yet again while Amit Mishra, Axar Patel and Ishant Sharma were also among the wickets. Their spearhead Kagiso Rabada hasn’t been able to get his act together yet and that has been one of the mysteries of IPL 2021 so far.
KKR came up with an excellent performance with the ball to hold PBKS to 123. Pacer Prasidh Krishna picked up three wickets and Sunil Narine and Pat Cummins two each. While Shivam Mavi and Varun Chakravarthy claimed one wicket each, they were highly economical, giving nothing away.
The return to form of KKR skipper Eoin Morgan is a big plus for the franchise while Rahul Tripathi also played a good knock in the last game. But the poor run of Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine will begin to worry KKR. Will we see some changes in the batting order?
Predicted Playing XIs
DC: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Steve Smith, Rishabh Pant (C & WK), Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan
KKR: Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Mavi
--Renin Wilben Albert