Andre Russell and Eoin Morgan's power-hitting will be the focus of all eyes when the in-form Kolkata Knight Riders taken on Delhi Capitals with an aim to light up the Sharjah skyline in what promises to be another six-hitting IPL contest in Sharjah on Saturday.
Russell gave a glimpse of what is in store with three sixes on a big Dubai ground against Rajasthan Royals, while the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Rishabh Pant will be itching to do the same for Delhi.
Infact, Pant needs it more than Russell as three of his peers, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson have all got runs under their belt, something that the beefy man from Roorkee so desperately needs.
This will be the first weekend of double headers in the IPL and there couldn't have been a better ground for that than Sharjah with ridiculously short boundaries promising another run-fest.
If there is Shubman Gill, Andre Russell and Eoin Morgan in one side, there is Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Marcus Stoinis and Shreyas Iyer on the other end, all capable big-hitters and ever-ready to add to the whopping 62 sixes that has been hit on this ground in the two games held there so far.
KKR have been slowly getting into the groove with some comprehensive performances while Capitals, after two fine victories, hit a roadblock against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last outing.
For the Knights, their young pace attack of Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi will have their task cut out on a batting paradise where their temperament will be put to test.
In Sharjah, a bowler is destined to go for runs and how the two manage that and try subtle variations will be key to KKR's success.
KKR is unlikely to tinker with their winning combination even though Sunil Narine as an opener hasn't worked well for them in the three games with only 24 runs scored by the Trinidad all-rounder.
However, he has bowled his full quota of overs in three games with two wickets.
Keeping the dimensions of the Sharjah ground in mind, KKR will continue with Narine as the opener as they attempt to attack the weak link in the DC attack which obviously will be an Indian pacer -- be it Mohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma or Avesh Khan.
Speaking ahead of the game, Capitals coach Ryan Harris believes his team was not at their best in their last match against SunRisers Hyderavad, but there is panic in the camp.
"Coming off an unlucky loss, we just weren't at our best for that game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. But, there's no panicking by any means," he said.
Giving an update on Ravichandran Ashwin's injury, Harris said: "He's doing excellent. He had a really good session last night with the ball, bat and in the field. So he might be available for selection for tomorrow, but we are still waiting for our medical staff's confirmation this evening."
In their batting department, Shimron Hetmyer is yet to fire but he would be keen to take on KKR spinners, Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy.
Hetmyer has had some degree of success against Kuldeep in the international games and it could be an engaging contest provided he gets a chance to bat on a track where history always favours the top four batters from either side.
Squads:
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shimron Hetmyer, Kagiso Rabada, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Rishabh Pant (w/k), Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel, Sandeep Lamichhane, Keemo Paul, Daniel Sams, Mohit Sharma, Anrich Nortje, Alex Carey (wk), Avesh Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harshal Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (Captain, w/k), Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan, Varun Chakravarthy, Tom Banton (Wicketkeeper), Rahul Tripathi, Chris Green, M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Ali Khan.
Match starts at 7.30pm IST.
