Preview DC vs KKR IPL 2021, Match 25, April 29th, Narendra Modi Stadium. DC vs KKR head to head player stats and records. Team news and match predictions for DC vs KKR.
Key match stats DC vs KKR preview
Venue Stats – Narendra Modi Stadium
- Average first innings: 161
- Average first innings winning score: 171
- Average powerplay score: 46
- All-time win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 50% / 43%
Find full venue stats and records here
Team form DC vs KKR preview
- DC – LWWWL
- KKR – WLLLL
- Recent meetings: IPL 2020, DC won by 18 runs, KKR won by 59 runs
DC vs KKR preview
The games continue to come thick and fast for the Delhi Capitals at the moment who gave a bit of a stop start display against RCB in their last match. There were plenty of positives to take from the continued good form of Avesh Khan and the near match winning knock of Shimron Hetmyer but unfortunately DC’s captain, Rishabh Pant, couldn’t quite get going and see his team across the line.
Probably the most noticable aspect of the chase in the fixture at this venue on Tuesday was that there was no dew on the outfield during the 2nd innings which was in stark contrast to KKR’s win over PBKS when the grass was absolutely sodden. “The dew factor” will be a phrase that you’ll hear mentioned on commentary about a hundred times today as you sit back and enjoy watching the game and we wait to see how big an impact it will have on the outcome of this match.
KKR will be hoping that they can get on a bit of a roll following their win against the Punjab Kings which ended a sequence of 4 straight defeats. Going back to the early knockings of IPL 2021, the Knight Riders were looking really good before a dramatic loss of form. Beyond the 2 points they acquired on Monday, the big plus will be the return to some kind of form of skipper Eoin Morgan who finally put some runs on the board and removed a bit of the pressure that was growing on his position in the side. As if to prove just how close and competitive the IPL is, another win here would catapult his team into the playoff places!
DC vs KKR head to head stats
DC bowling vs KKR batting
DC have been excellent with the ball during the powerplay this season, taking wickets and being economical. It was started off by the likes of Chris Woakes who swung and seamed the ball at the Wankhede and has been taken on by Avesh Khan who is emerging as one of the bowlers of the tournament. Indeed, alongside Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan is the only bowler to feature in the top 5 economy rates in the powerplay and the top 5 economy rates at the death!
DC’s powerplay bowlers will come up against a KKR top order that has been brilliant at times and pretty poor at others. Nitish Rana started the season with a bang but seems to have gone off the boil in recent matches while questions still remain about Shubman Gill’s suitability for the shortest form of cricket. He is truly classy batsman and a man who will have a very long career in other formats but sides seemed to have worked out how to keep him quiet in T20 cricket and to date he hasn’t come up with a answer, a fact that is underlined by his dot ball % in IPL 2021 which is the highest of any batsmen in the tournament!
Of course what KKR do have is the power in the lower middle order to make up the difference and in that respect Delhi Capitals have been struggling a little to contain sides late in the innings.
The key bowler for DC at the death for the last couple of seasons has been Kagiso Rabada who has picked up a huge number of wickets in the final 5 overs. However, the South African is struggling to find any real form at the moment and his usual pinpoint accuracy has deserted him. Against KKR, he comes up against a couple of men who have hit him about a bit in the past including in last season’s fixtures which both resulted in KKR’s batsmen scoring freely against DC.
We predicted that DC would drop a spinner from their side for their last match and suggested that it could well be Ravi Ashwin who got the chop. DC might be tempted to bring him back for this game given that KKR are more reliant on left-handers than RCB are. However, Ashwin again does not have a good head to head record against the lefties in the KKR side, in particular Nitish Rana and as such his spell on the side lines may continue.
KKR bowling vs DC batting
News flash! Shikhar Dhawan failed in an IPL match! Given the left-handers consistency over the last season and half it really is an odd sight to see him depart for a single figure score and DC will be hoping that he and Prithvi Shaw who have been the most productive opening partnership in the powerplay in 2021 will provide a solid foundation for them today.
They’ll be up against a KKR bowling attack that has been reshaped from their opening 3 games were they relied almost exclusively on spin in the first 6 overs to one which will see their quicks get most of the action. In that regard, young Shivam Mavi has looked in very good form since returning to the side and has done his best work in the powerplay where to date he is the most economical bowler. Will that continue against Prithvi Shaw who is striking at 166 during the powerplay in IPL 2021?
However, KKR’s achilles heal this year has been their death bowling as demonstrated by the graph below which shows they are the least economical side in the last 5 overs of IPL 2021. This is a particularly damning stat given that KKR have played half their matches this year on surfaces in Chennai where most sides have struggled to score in the 2nd half of an innings.
Head to head wise there are a couple of interesting match-up including in the battle of the big burly all-rounders. Andre Russell has bowled 5 balls at Marcus Stoinis in the IPL and dismissed him twice while Stoinis is yet to score a run. However, the match-up that i’ll be eagerly anticipating will be between fellow countrymen Pat Cummins and Steve Smith with the fast bowler having the wood over his former captain and number 1 ranked Test batsmen in the world to date.
All IPL player head to head records can be found here
