Kolkata: A resurgent Delhi Capitals will look to exploit Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowling vulnerabilities and ascend to top-four in the table during their Indian Premier League match here on Monday.
With four wins in their last five matches, the Rishabh
Pant-led side is gradually assembling their pieces and starting to look like a force to be reckoned with.
On the other hand, the Gautam Gambhir-mentored side has endured three defeats in their last five matches with their profligacy in bowling hurting them badly.
Signed up as Lungi Ngidi’s replacement, Aussie Jake Fraser-McGurk has proved to be their X-factor with his ferocious batting display at the top.
A natural power-hitter with superb hand-eye coordination, the 22-year-old has taken the IPL by storm scoring 247 runs in five matches at a strike-rate of 237.50.
His brutal treatment of the otherwise sensational Jasprit Bumrah stands as a testimony of his skill-level. McGurk slammed a slower ball from
the Mumbai Indians pacer for a six and it was the first time a batter lofted Bumrah for a first-ball six. The pacer conceded 18 runs in his first over, the most by him in this season in a single over as DC overcame MI by 10 runs on Saturday.
He made a 27-ball 84 against MI, and McGurk will wrelish the batting-friendly conditions at Eden Gardens where 523 runs, including a record 42 sixes, were scored between Punjab Kings and KKR.
The PBKS on that occasion had scaled down a world record 262.
But DC’s batting is not only about McGurk, the South African Tristian Stubbs also left everyone in awe with his astonishing power-hitting, smashing a 25-ball 48 not out against Mumbai.