Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Average score at venue (1st inns): 164
Win percentage while batting first: 38.30%
Pitch conditions:
- A high-scoring contest can be expected between Delhi and Kolkata on Thursday night in Mumbai as the pitch here is getting more conducive for making big runs and should provide plenty of support to the batsmen, even if the new ball may swing it in favour of the pacers early on.
- After a sedate start to the tournament, the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium seems to be slowing down and easing up for batsmen to make big scores, something that will be on target for both the teams to face off on Thursday night.
- With a wicket share percentage of 69.72%, fast bowlers can be expected to dominate on Thursday night in Mumbai whereas spin bowlers will look to improve their numbers, as they currently have a share percentage of 30.28%.
Weather prediction:
After a sunny, hot and humid day on Thursday, the mercury will drop down to 32°C and further down to 30°C on Thursday evening when Delhi will take on Kolkata at the Wankhede Stadium. The humidity levels will range between 50-75% during the match hours.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD (overall):
Matches played: 30
Delhi won: 13
Kolkata won: 16
No result: 1
Top 3 players from Delhi: David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant
Top 3 players from Kolkata: Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana
Top picks for H2H/WTA contest (top 5 players each):
Top 5 players from Delhi: David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav
Top 5 players from Kolkata: Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Umesh Yadav
Q & A:
Fantasy tips and tricks: Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
If the trend has to be observed in the last few matches, the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium is easing out gradually and has provided batsmen with the opportunity to rake up big totals. But any new ball bowler who has the knack for striking in the powerplay should look for a couple of wickets at least in the first 6 overs, just like Mohammad Shami took in the clash against Hyderabad on Wednesday night. For this contest between Delhi and Kolkata, two teams who are far from being consistent, having a long batting line-up followed by a decent pace attack should be the right approach for making a fantasy cricket playing XI.
Fantasy tips: From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
Neither Delhi nor Kolkata have been convincing enough to be termed as a stronger side but on the basis of their performances so far in the competition, Delhi have a slight edge over their opponents for the clash on Thursday night. Delhi have been wobbly all along, recording only 3 wins from 7 matches and 4 defeats while it has been comparatively worse for Kolkata, who were on a 4-match losing spree to have slipped to the 8th spot in the points table with 5 defeats and only 3 wins from 8 matches so far. Delhi have a strong batting line-up and their bowling attack is also potent enough to trouble any good side in the tournament, thus they should have more players featuring in the fantasy cricket playing XI.
MORE INFORMATION: Delhi will take a lot of confidence as well as learning from their previous match at this venue where they had a controversial finish of sorts against Rajasthan in a high-scoring contest. Delhi captain Rishabh Pant will have to rally his troops around them and make them focus on the bigger picture, which is depicting a poor campaign so far for a team which had done largely well in the last two seasons. On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer will have a point to prove when he faces his former team Delhi on Thursday night as he is now in-charge of the Kolkata outfit which has a lot of promise and talent at its disposal, but is going through a challenging phase.
PLAYERS’ FORM: The opening pair of David Warner and Prithvi Shaw will be crucial as individual contributions of these two players have had a great impact on the outcomes for the Delhi side. At the same time, Kolkata will have to show more trust and confidence in the players that they have since results have not been as per their desires despite putting in all that they had in the last few matches. Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine and a few others will be the key to the contest against Kolkata on Thursday night.
Changes in squad (if any): NO
LIKELY XIs:
DELHI: David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant (c&wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Rovman Powell, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Khaleel Ahmed.
KOLKATA: Sam Billings (wk), Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy.
FANTASY XI: David Warner (c), Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer (vc), Nitish Rana, Rishabh Pant (wk), Lalit Yadav/Axar Patel, Rovman Powell, Andre Russell, Tim Southee, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav.
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Kolkata desperate for revival in clash against wobbly Delhi
Shreyas Iyer’s Kolkata will be desperate to end their 4-match losing streak when they meet a wobbly Delhi in the Match No 41 of the ongoing Indian T20 cricket League 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
Both Delhi and Kolkata have been inconsistent to say the least in the 15th edition of the world's biggest T20 cricket competition, putting up ordinary performances across departments to be thrown at the deep end of the pool.
Delhi are currently placed 7th with 6 points in 7 matches after 3 wins and 4 defeats giving them a Net Run Rate (NRR) of 0.715, which seems better than some of the other top ranked teams such as Gujarat and Hyderabad. For Delhi, the lack of wins means lesser points and Delhi are currently languishing in the bottom half of the points table, something which they would be desperate to improve.
On the other hand, Kolkata are on a losing spree with each of the defeats coming with big margins, something that the Shreyas Iyer-led team cannot afford to continue at this junction in the tournament.
Like many other teams at the bottom of the points table, this is a do-or-die situation since teams placed above them are only improving and improvising, at the same time, consolidating their positions in the points table.
All of the 10 competing teams are at the halfway point in their 70-match league stage to determine 4 strongest teams, and there already are a few contenders who are looking like they will stroll into the knockout stage by the end of the first round.
Delhi will need runs from other players who are not David Warner and Prithvi Shaw or even Rishabh Pant, with the young wicketkeeper-batsman currently reeling under the pressure of on-field misconduct in front of live TV and stadium audience in the dying stages of the match against Rajasthan.
Rishabh Pant has always been a character featuring in discussions more often than not but his embarrassing act of signalling his batsmen Rovman Powell and Kuldeep Yadav to stage a walkout with three balls left and Delhi’s loss certain, only because he and his camp was not convinced that the on-field umpires had taken the right decision for not calling it a no-ball for height.
But for the likes of Rishabh Pant and those in the Delhi camp who got swayed in the moment, the only and best way out is by putting up performances that benefit the team and its cause.
