When Delhi Capitals play Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL 2023 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday, all eyes will be on Prithvi Shaw. So far, Prithvi Shaw has yet to do much for DC. He has only hit 34 runs in five games, with a strikeout rate of 117.24.
Worse for the Delhi Capitals is that they have had a terrible start to the IPL 2023 season. So far this season, the team led by Ricky Ponting has played five games and lost all of them. A small change at the top of the DC lineup might be coming.
Sarfaraz Khan, who has been tried as a wicketkeeper who also bats, could be brought in as a specialist opener for the “powerplay overs,” or the senior Manish Pandey could be given a more significant role.
This is a must-win game for the team led by David Warner because if they lose again, they have no chance of making the playoffs.
On the other hand, KKR would like to forget that they lost at home to Sunrisers Hyderabad and move on to win some games. The bowlers for the Delhi Capitals, led by Anrich Nortje and Mustafizur Rahman, can be struck by their captain Nitish Rana, middle-order batter Rinku Singh, and big-hitting West Indian Andre Russell.
The fact that Delhi has lost five games in a row is a warning that they only have a few batsmen.
Shaw’s lack of success has been the biggest letdown. The former Under-19 captain, who led India to victory in the 2018 U19 World Cup, looks like a pale shadow of himself.
The numbers speak for themselves: Shaw got 479 runs in 2021 and 283 runs in 10 games the year before. But against fast bowlers this year, he has looked completely out of place, which makes his situation impossible.
In the last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru, Delhi lost by 23 runs. He was out for a duck.
Even though Warner’s slow strike rate has been criticized, the Australian opener hasn’t been able to speed up because wickets have always been falling at the other end.
Warner has scored 228 runs in five games, or around 116 runs per game.
The Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh at No. 3 has also been a failure. Rilee Rossouw and Rovman Powell could come back into the game.
Yash Dhull’s batting has a major technical flaw, and he hasn’t been able to fix the early trigger movement of shuffling toward the off stump. This makes him an ideal candidate for LBW decisions in coming deliveries.
Even DC’s bench could be better, which is one reason why players who aren’t doing well aren’t being replaced.
Rahamanullah Gurbaz could be replaced by the Englishman Jason Roy as the opener for KKR, with N. Jagadeesan taking wickets.
Leg spinner Suyash Sharma will play his first senior-level game at his home.
All eyes will be on Nitish and Rinku, the two big hits, who will try to entertain the crowd, along with Russell and Venkatesh Iyer, who is in good form after scoring a century against MI, even though they lost.
