Indian Premier League 2021 – PBKS vs DC 29th T20 Match – Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.

Fantasy Preview –

Chris Gayle too found his mojo back with a quick-fire 46. The only area of concern remains their death overs bowling. Harshal Patel smacked 31 off 13 balls, with Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan and Riley Meredith coming in for some punishment. Even though by that stage of the game, the result was more or less a foregone conclusion, PBKS would look to address the recurring narrative of their bowlers losing the plot in the slog.

Prithvi Shaw has batted with grandeur and pomp at the top of the order. In fact, his strike of 165.03 is currently the best in the list of the top-10 run-getters in this season of IPL. Shikhar Dhawan, his opening partner, is currently the second highest run-getter of the season. Shimron Hetmyer and Pant too have added heft to the middle order. On the bowling side, Avesh Khan has bowled adroitly, mixing up his lengths and nailing the wide yorkers as and when required. Axar Patel has once again turned out to be DC’s bankable option, combining control with subtle changes of pace and scrambled seam to seed doubts in the minds of the batsmen. If anything, Kagiso Rabada hasn’t been at his best. But the rest of the attack has covered up for the pace spearhead’s rather indifferent show.

Pitch Report –

On expected lines, the track for the RCB-PBKS game was a tad two-paced. The dew also didn’t come into the picture. In such conditions, tall pace bowlers can find some lift (loopy bounce) out of the surface, with spinners also coming into play.

• Bat 1st Ave Score – 156
• Bat 1st Winning chances – 40%
• Highest Score Chased – 158
• Wicket Split – PACE – 60.71% / SPIN – 39.29%

Head 2 Head –

• PBKS won – 15
• DC won – 12

Top Performers –

Player	Statistics (Last 5 T20s)	Dream11 Points
Shikhar Dhawan	217 runs	60, 11, 43, 60, 135
Prithvi Shaw	195 runs	117, 28, 76, 12, 53
KL Rahul	235 runs	132, 33, 89, 8, 84
Chris Gayle	115 runs	70, 2, 68, 21, 25
Rishabh Pant	133 runs	36, 76, 71, 40, 21

Player Availability:

• With such a short turnaround, Mayank Agarwal (arm injury) is likely to miss this game too. Nicholas Pooran has accumulated only 28 runs at 4.66 this season with four ducks this season. So Dawid Malan could come into the reckoning. Kyle Jamieson of RCB thumped one back at Riley Meredith, with the pace bowler getting hit on his right knee. And that could mean Jhye Richardson getting another chance.
• With Lalit Yadav making an impact against KKR, the franchise could be tempted to play the same side. The experienced Amit Mishra, who was replaced by Lalit in DC’s previous game, is down with a shoulder niggle.

Player Match-Ups –

• The paceman has gone at just 7.09 runs per over in the Powerplay in Ahmedabad in this season’s IPL. DC would be hoping for their in-form duo of Dhawan and Shaw to break free. As far as strategies on the bowling side are concerned, Avesh Khan has been one of DC’s cornerstones in the slog overs. The tall fast bowler attempted as many as seven wide yorkers in his last two overs versus KKR, with a set field on the off-side. Just like any other fast bowler, he didn’t nail the perfect wide yorker every single time, but he was able to restrict Andre Russell’s hitting prowess to some extent. Previously, he had also restricted AB de Villiers’ pyrotechnics.
• This season, Ravi Bishnoi has conceded only 4.75 runs per over and has been instrumental in helping PBKS win a couple of games. On the other hand, Shaw seemed to be picking even Rashid Khan’s googly when DC locked horns against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The DC think-tank would be hoping the dashing opener can do something similar versus Bishnoi’s googlies. Meanwhile, Chris Gayle has aggregated 61 runs off just 29 balls against Axar in the IPL. So it would be interesting to see how DC go about using Axar.
• Meredith extracted appreciable inward movement against Virat Kohli. If he is passed fit for the game, PBKS would hope that the fast bowler can find a similar kind of movement against Shaw, with the opener having a history of being knocked over bowled or LBW. Just that Shaw seems to be more comfortable against such a tactic in this IPL. So PBKS could also look at employing the short ball tactic with the inward angle.

Things to know – PBKS vs DC

• Last season, Shaw averaged a mere 15.60 in the Powerplay. In sharp contrast, this season, he has averages 61.33 and at a strike rate of 187.8.
• “My plan against De Villiers was to bowl a touch wider outside off-stump and out of his slot since the ball was gripping a bit. That’s why I brought in a slip and had covers to come up slightly” – Harpreet Brar.

Probable Playing XI

PBKS – KL Rahul (c, wk), Prabhsimran Singh/Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran/Dawid Malan, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Chris Jordan, Riley Meredith/Jhye Richardson, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami.

DC – Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Steve Smith, Rishabh Pant (c,wk), Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav/Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan.

BabaCric Expert Dream11 Team

Pre Analyzed Dream11 Team – PBKS vs DC

• Note – The team may change any time after the toss, if there are any changes please change immediately or you can join us on our official Telegram channel the link given down after the article.
• The team is based on player points with recent player stats also the team is based on real inner sanctum which helps to predict the team better.
• You can change the team if you have any doubt over it also feel free to comment to us.

The team will appear here after the toss…

C & VC Selection –

• C – S Dhawan, KL Rahul, P Shaw, C Gayle, D Malan (if Playes)
• VC – A Patel, L Yadav, H Brar, M Stoinis