Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals Playing 11 IPL: Team news, players to watch out for

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) saw their winning run derail against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as MS Dhoni’s men won another low-scoring encounter at home. Now back home at Eden Gardens, the Dinesh Karthik-led side would look to return to winning ways as they host Shreyas Iyer’s Delhi Capitals (DC) on Friday.

One of the key battles to watch out for in the match would be between Rishabh Pant and Andre Russell as both batsmen are explosive in nature and are capable enough to change the course of the game at any point of time. Fans, however, might be left a little disappointed as Russel has reportedly hurt his wrist and might not be fit to play against Delhi tonight.

Harshal Patel and Rahul Tewatia are two more names which aren’t 100% to feature in the KKR vs DC game at Eden Gardens. If Russell misses out due to injury, another West Indian in the form of Carlos Brathwaite is expected to make it to the playing XI.

Rishabh Pant: The big-hitting wicket-keeper batsman is due a big knock which hasn’t come from his bat for a very long time. Since his rampage against Mumbai Indians in the opener, Pant hasn’t been as effective with the bat. Against KKR, a big innings is highly-anticipated from the Delhi lad.

Kagiso Rabada: One of the finest performers for the Delhi franchise, Rabada was the one who managed to stop the Russell-mania in the Super Over during the reverse fixture in Kotla. He would be key to DC’s hopes against KKR again tonight.

Sunil Narine: Although Narine failed to fire with the bat against CSK, he was effective with the ball, bagging two wickets. His all-round talent would be in focus again against a Delhi side that hasn’t been as consistent with the ball as they would’ve liked.

Dinesh Karthik: He is one of those under-performing senior Indian players this season who needs to fire in order to not let critics raise more questions on his credentials for the forthcoming ICC World Cup. Returning home after a gap of four games, the KKR skipper might just be able to produce a big knock that is long due.

KKR Probable XI: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Shubman Gill, Andre Russell/Carlos Brathwaite, Piyush Chawla, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav

DC Probable XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Colin Ingram, Chris Morris, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult/Sandeep Lamichanne