Indian T20 League 2019: Match 26, Kolkata vs Delhi – Dream 11 and Dotball Prediction

A few days ago, when both these teams clashed at the Feroz Shah Kotla, they produced an enthralling tie – the first and only one so far this season – which was eventually broken in the Super Over where Delhi prevailed courtesy Kagiso Rabada’s outstanding over. Since then, Delhi have lost a bit of momentum as they suffered back-to-back losses before a comprehensive win over Bangalore.

With 4 days off since their last game, Delhi will be rejuvenated and ready to take on Kolkata, who suffered an embarrassing loss against Chennai in their previous clash, at the Eden Gardens on Friday.

If both teams stick to the theme of oscillating fortunes like in their previous clash, expect another humdinger. Delhi have won only once while playing at the Eden Gardens that too way back in 2012, a fact Delhi fans might not want to pay much attention to.

Fantasy team-wise, if we go by Kolkata’s record in the last few years, it will be advisable to stack up your team with the home team’s spinners; although they haven’t quite hit their straps yet. But Kolkata have only played 2 out of 6 games this year at home, winning both and since then, their spinners have bowled better. With the young guns of Delhi performing well with the bat, Shikhar Dhawan might follow suit soon.

Injury Updates: No injury concerns in both teams. However, according to the sources, Delhi might replace 2 members of their squad with domestic cricketers.

Head to Head: Last 5 games

Kolkata: 3

Delhi: 2

Likely XIs

Kolkata: Dinesh Karthik (C and WK), Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Gurney

Delhi: Rishabh Pant (WK), Shikar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Prithvi Shaw, Colin Ingram, Chris Morris, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Sandeep Lamichanne.

Dotball Prediction:

Dotball team for Head to Head/Small Contests:

Wicket-Keeper: Rishabh Pant

Batsmen: Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw

All-Rounders: Andre Russell (C), Sunil Narine, Axar Patel

Bowlers: Kuldeep Yadav, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada (VC)

Captain and Vice-Captain choices:

Captain: Despite not having the best of techniques, especially against spin, Russell hit a breezy 50* off 44 when everyone else struggled against the menacing Chennai spinners in the last game. Such has been Russell’s form that he has struck gold in every single outing this year which has seen his average swell to 128.50 after scoring 257 runs this year. His strike rate of 212.39 still stands the best for anyone who has scored more than 25 runs this year.

Vice-Captain: Kagiso Rabada has stayed true to his reputation of being a wicket-taker even in the shortest format of the game. With 11 sticks from 6 games, Rabada is currently the holder of the purple cap and looks good to retain it for longer. His ability to execute the yorker at will makes him indispensable for any captain in the tournament.

Fantasy Tips

Shaw (169 runs @ 28.16), Iyer (215 runs @ 35.83) and Pant (176 runs @ 35.2) have contributing a whopping 57.44% of the runs scored by Delhi so far. All 3 batsmen look likely to deliver the goods yet again for Delhi but will have to be smart against the Kolkata spinners who have done well while playing at home for a number of years.

Safe Captain Choices:

Andre Russell

Nitish Rana

Kagiso Rabada

Risky Captain Choices:

Chris Lynn

Chris Morris

Shreyas Iyer

Dotball Team for Large/Grand Contests:

Wicket-Keeper: Dinesh Karthik

Batsmen: Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer

All-Rounders: Chris Morris (C), Axar Patel, Andre Russell

Bowlers: Piyush Chawla (VC), Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Lamichanne

Captain and Vice-Captain choices:

Captain: With 62 sticks from 56 IPL games and an average and strike rate in the north of 30 and 160 respectively with the bat, Chris Morris has made a reputation of being a dangerous allrounder in the IPL. The big allrounder has impressed with the ball (6 wickets from 4 games, Econ 7.93) this year and has the potential to do the job with the bat.

Vice-Captain: Considering that Piyush Chawla is used during the Powerplay on a regular basis, an IPL-career economy rate of 7.7 is not bad at all. While doing so, he has also snapped 144 wickets at 26.64 runs apiece. He has always enjoyed bowling at the Eden Gardens and could go on to stifle batsmen with his smart variations.

Fantasy Tips

Keep an eye out on Prasidh Krishna, who has bowled exceptionally well at the start and at the death but without much luck. With the deck expected to assist the spinners, Axar Patel and Sandeep Lamicchane can make an impact for Delhi.

Dream 11 Prediction

Suggested Playing XI No. 1 for Head to Head/Small Leagues

Wicket-keeper – Rishabh Pant

Batsmen – Robin Uthappa (C), Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw

All-Rounders – Sunil Narine, Andre Russell (VC), Chris Morris

Bowlers – Harry Gurney, Kagiso Rabada, Sandeep Lamichhane

Fantasy Tips

Both of Nitish Rana’s fifties this year came at the Eden Gardens. He is a good player of spin and can replicate the success again against Delhi. Uthappa has been very consistent this year and has averaged 45.75 – his highest after playing out 12 seasons in the IPL for various franchises.

Suggested Playing XI No.2 for Grand/ Mega Leagues:

Wicket-keeper – Dinesh Karthik

Batsmen – Chris Lynn, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Shikhar Dhawan (VC), Colin Ingram

All-Rounders – Sunil Narine (C), Chris Morris

Bowlers – Kuldeep Yadav, Harry Gurney, Kagiso Rabada

Fantasy Tips

It took Colin Ingram 8 years to make a comeback in the IPL and the South African has already impressed on the big stage. Going by his cameos, a telling knock is just round the corner. Shubhman Gill might be given a promotion to showcase his talent.

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