The 41st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 will be played between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. DC has displayed exemplary skills this season, as they have won 8 games in the 10 they have ins of their 10 games so far, they are currently standing second on the points table.
On the other hand, KKR has won 4 matches out of the 10 they have played so far, and they have also won 2 of their 3 recent matches in the Dubai leg. In their game against Rajasthan Royals (RR), DC scored 154 runs on the board, Shreyas Iyer stacked 43 runs for them. The average total turned out to be enough for the DC restricted the Royals could manage just 121 runs while chasing. Anrich Nortje picked a couple of wickets while the rest of the bowlers grabbed a wicket each.
ALSO READ: Jason Roy And Kane Williamson Guided SRH To Win Against RR, Twitter Reacts
These two teams have clashed on 29 occasions so far in the history of this tournament, where both the teams managed to win 14 games each. The last time these two sides met this season, was at Ahmedabad where DC had won the game by a comfortable 7-wicket margin. A win will send Delhi Capitals to the top of the leaderboard while KRR is in desperate need of a win here to grip their spot in the top 4.
Ahead of the MI vs KKR match of IPL 2021, let’s have a look at 3 interesting player battles to watch out for.
#1 Shubman Gill vs Anrich Nortje
Shubman Gill came out all guns blazing against RCB and smashed 48 runs. The right-handed opener has so far amassed 202 runs in 10 innings. With his great knock at the start of the UAE leg, Gill will aim to play another good knock against DC. Anrich Nortje will have the task to neutralize the threat of Shubman Gill. Nortje usually bowls the starting overs for DC and Shubman Gill bats as an opener for KKR. Hence, both the players will definitely face each other. Hence, it will be interesting to watch who among the two overpowers the other.
#2 Shikhar Dhawan vs Prasidh Krishna
Shikhar Dhawan has been playing brilliant in the UAE leg of the IPL 2021 and something similar can be expected against KKR. He did well in the game against SRH. With 430 runs in 10 games, Dhawan is the highest run-scorer for DC. He has only managed to score 3 half-centuries in the tournament and will be eager to score another big knock.
ALSO READ: Jason Roy And Kane Williamson Guided SRH To Win Against RR, Twitter Reacts
Prasidh Krishna will have the task to send back Dhawan as early as possible. In the game against RCB, he bagged the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli. Prasidh Krishna has picked 12 wickets in 10 games so far. After Pat Cummins deciding to pull out from the UAE leg, Prasidh Krishna is the most dependable pacer for KKR.
#3 Andre Russell vs Kagiso Rabada
Andre Russell has the ability to demolish any bowling line-up in the world and that makes him the most dangerous batsman in the KKR team. In IPL 2021 so far, the right-handed batsman has piled up 183 runs in 9 innings with 1 half-century. However, against DC, Kagiso Rabada will be given the responsibility of dismissing Russell without a big score. Rabada is a wicket-taking bowler for DC and that makes his battle with Russell an interesting one. Then it will be exciting to watch if Rabada manages to attack Russell with his deliveries or not.
