Find out team news, TV and streaming information, odds, head-to-head record, weather forecast and much, much more ahead of the 24th game of the new Indian Premier League season
Delhi Capitals take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the 24rd match of the 2021 IPL.
The game is scheduled for 7.30pm IST (3pm BST) on Thursday, April 29, 2021.
Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium is hosting the game.
Delhi Capitals should have beaten Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday and likely would have done, but for an uncharacteristically slow half century from stand-in captain Rishabh Pant. Two points in that clash against Virat Kohli's league leaders would have taken Ricky Ponting's Capitals level on points and ahead on net run rate. As it is, however, they remain joint-second with eight points, ahead of the chasing pack.
That pack now includes Kolkata Knight Riders, who badly needed a win against Punjab Kings on Monday. Captain Eoin Morgan led the way with an unbeaten 47 as a mediocre display stopped a rot that was beginning to consume KKR's season.
Dafabet have plumped for Delhi Capitals as clear favourites to pick up their fifth victory of this campaign, offering odds of 8/11 despite KKR's timely resurgence. Morgan's men are available at 11/10.
That said, Kolkata Knight Riders are seen as a shoo-in to hit the most sixes, perhaps understandable given the presence of Morgan and, more so, Andre Russell in their line-up. They are available at 8/13, with Delhi Capitals outsiders at 7/4.
In the run-scoring stakes, it appears to be a day for the left-handers: Shikhar Dhawan is available at 21/10 to be Delhi's leading man, while you can get odds of 14/5 on KKR's Nitish Rana doing the same.
Andre Russell has only lit up once thus far, and that came in defeat against Chennai Super Kings. It would be unlike the West Indies allrounder not to take a game by the scruff of its neck soon, so perhaps this could be his time - not least given the inviting batting conditions in Ahmedabad. Russell's dominance is based on more than reputation alone: he is ranked third in the T20 Player Index.
For Delhi, Avesh Khan has emerged as an unlikely chaser in the race for the Purple Cap. The seamer has claimed 12 wickets thus far, five behind the only man ahead of him, Harshal Patel, the Royal Challengers Bangalore fast bowler. Khan is three clear of Rahul Chahar and Chris Morris.
Neither team are likely to make any changes to their sides; Kolkata Knight Riders will hope they have belatedly stumbled across a winning formula, while it would be unusual for Delhi Capitals to move away from their plans on the back of a single defeat.
Ponting's men are, however, without Ravichandran Ashwin, who has left the IPL to be with his family as the coronavirus pandemic takes a hold over India.
The two teams have played each other 26 times.
Delhi Capitals wins: 11
Kolkata Knight Riders wins: 14
A clear day with temperatures hitting 42 degrees Celsius means the match should be uninterrupted.
No, this match will be played behind closed doors owing to the Covid-19 situation in India.
It feels hard to look past Delhi Capitals, given their form thus far and the struggles of Kolkata Knight Riders. Shimron Hetmyer firing in Capitals' middle order is an added bonus.
IPL TEAM GUIDES
Sky Sports have the rights in the United Kingdom.
You can aso stream the tournament using the Disney+ Hotstar digital platform, though the matches are only available for VIP or Premium subscribers.
Star Sports have the television rights in India.
Streaming service YuppTV have acquired digital streaming rights in a host of markets, including Australia, continental Europe, Malaysia, Southeast Asia with the exception of Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, Central Asia, and Central and South America.
In the USA, the games will be broadcast on Willow TV and the Willow TV website. Fox Sports have the broadcasting rights in Australia, while Supersport will televise the games in South Africa. In the Caribbean, Flow TV have the rights.
The following broadcasters owning the rights for their respective regions:
Bangladesh: Channel 9
Afghanistan: Lemar TV
Malaysia: Measat
MENA/UAE: BeIN Sport
Hong Kong: Now TV
Singapore: SingTel
New Zealand: Sky Sport
Papua New Guinea: EMTV
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, Ravichandran Ashwin (left IPL for personal reasons on April 25), Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes, Anrich Nortje, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Lukman Hussain Meriwala, M Siddharth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Pravin Dubey, Vishnu Vinod
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Pawan Negi, Tim Seifert, Shakib al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer
DC: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Steve Smith, Rishabh Pant, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan
KKR: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna
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