IPL 2021, Preview: Delhi Capitals Take On Resurgent Punjab Kings

Delhi Capitals (DC) will take on resurgent Punjab Kings (PBKS) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday.

The Punjab franchise is coming off a big win over the strong Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) side, winning the match by 34 runs. Their skipper K.L. Rahul, who has been among runs, will once again be crucial at the top. He will again have to play the role of an anchor and hope the youngsters in the team perform around him.

The big concern for PBKS will be the form of West Indian duo Nicholas Pooran and Chris Gayle. While Gayle has been inconsistent, Pooran is enduring a very poor run. He has become only the fifth batsman in the history of IPL to notch four scores of zero in a season.

Punjab's bowling looks good especially with the inclusion of Harpreet Brar. They now have a finger spinner along with a wrist spinner in Ravi Bishnoi. Australian pace bowler Riley Meredith showed great pace. But he suffered an injury during Friday night's game.

Punjab will be hoping he recovers in time for Sunday night's match. DC, however, will be tough with their power-packed batting. Punjab Kings will hope that Mohammed Shami uses some of his swings to get rid of the in-form Prithvi Shaw early.

DC's batting goes very deep and it will be a challenge for PBKS. Punjab batting too will have their hands full against a strong DC bowling line-up.

Squads:

Punjab Kings: KL Rahul (captain/wicketkeeper), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Riley Meredith, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar.

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (captain/wicketkeeper), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Sam Billings, Shimron Hetmyer, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Umesh Yadav, Tom Curran, Avesh Khan, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Ripal Patel, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddharth, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Woakes, Vishnu Vinod (wicketkeeper), Aditya Tare (wicketkeeper).