Before the game between the Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, the toss was delayed by more than an hour due to unexpected rain in the nation’s capital. The home team’s captain David Warner decided to bowl first. Even the most pessimistic Delhi Capitals fans would have expected their team to perform better than lose five games off the bat.
In today’s match, Litton Das and Jason Roy are making their debut for the Kolkata Knight Riders. However, fast bowling superstar, Lockie Ferguson was excluded from the playing 11.
Why is Lockie Ferguson not playing today?
Lockie Ferguson has not impressed in this season. As KKR opted to play with Litton Das and Jason Roy both, the overseas pacer had to make way for one of the openers. Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, the 2 West Indian Giants are the first names on the team sheet of Kolkata due to their consistent performances for the franchise.
The Delhi Capitals would have known that the 2023 IPL would be difficult because their captain Rishabh Pant’s absence would cause instability in the wicketkeeping position and the middle order. Their middle order of Indian batters has struggled, and their supposedly explosive top order has been the reverse.
However, it’s interesting to note that the Kolkata Knight Riders are the only team with openers who have worse records than David Warner and Prithvi Shaw of the DC. KKR’s condition is not as dire as DC’s, though; they have won two of their five games, and a victory here may move them into the top three unless RCB or PBKS end up winning by a significant margin in today’s first match.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Litton Das(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Mandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Philip Salt(w), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar
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