After a thrilling victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Feroz Shah Kotla, the Delhi Capitals (DC) will now face the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Mohali. Their confidence must be extremely high now but it will be a huge test of the young team’s character against the Punjab based franchise. KXIP defeated the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday and the home advantage is definitely with them.
Ravi Ashwin must be delighted the way his team has begun its home league. This year they will be playing all their home matches in Mohali, unlike last year when they got only three. They won all of them and are on a winning spree at the venue. The team which played against the MI looked very much stable and it remains to be seen if they make any changes to their combination based on the conditions.
Match Details:
The 13th game of the IPL between KXIP and DC will be hosted by the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
The match starts at 08:00 PM local time (02:30 PM GMT).
The game will be live on Star Sports in India. (Live streaming on Hotstar).
Weather Conditions:
It is very hot in Mohali at the moment. The temperature will hover around 38 Degrees Celsius the whole day. But it will go down to 28-30 Degrees during the match thereby giving the much-needed relief to the players. No rain is in the forecast while the dew is also not expected to come.
Last five completed T20 matches: (Most recent- first)
KXIP – W, L, W, L, W
DC – W, L, W, W, W
Pitch Condition/Report:
Average first-innings score: 191 (Last 5 Night IPL matches)
Record of chasing teams: Won – 1, Lost – 4
Probable Playing XI:
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)
KL Rahul (WK), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, David Miller, Ravi Ashwin, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Hardus Viljoen, Andrew Tye.
Bench: Nicholas Pooran, Karun Nair, Moises Henriques, Harpreet Brar, Simran Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Agnivesh Ayachi, Sam Curran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ankit Rajpoot.
Delhi Capitals (DC)
Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer (c), Colin Ingram, Rishabh Pant (WK), Axar Patel, Chris Morris, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Sandeep Lamichhane, Harshal Patel.
Bench: Colin Munro, Rahul Tewatia, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult, Hanuma Vihari, Ankush Bains, Keemo Paul, Harshal Patel, Jalaj Saxena, Manjot Kalra, Sherfane Rutherford, Nathu Singh, Bandaru Ayyappa.
Power Picks:
KL Rahul in Mohali:
5 Innings, 219 runs, 54.75 average, 155.31 strike-rate, 2 fifties
Captain and Vice-Captain Selection:
Captain Options: Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Chris Gayle
Vice-Captain Options: Chris Morris, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant
Suggested Playing XI No.1 for Head to Head/ Small Leagues:
Keeper – KL Rahul (C)
Batsmen – Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Colin Ingram, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw (VC)
All-Rounders – Chris Morris
Bowlers – Murugan Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Kagiso Rabada, Sandeep Lamichhane.
Suggested Playing XI No.2 for Grand/Mega Leagues:
Keeper – Rishabh Pant (VC)
Batsmen – Chris Gayle (C), Mayank Agarwal, David Miller, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer
All-Rounders – Chris Morris
Bowlers – Mohammed Shami, Hardus Viljoen, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada.
Expert Advice:
Pick the bowlers who will bowl mostly in the death overs as wickets might fall in a hurry as it is a big ground.
Also, it will be better to have a player from either team who bat at five in case there is a collapse.
Probable Winners:
The Kings XI Punjab have won four matches on the trot in Mohali now and they are the favourites again. But one can’t completely rule out the Capitals.
