IPL 2024: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today's GT vs KKR match
There are a lot of similarities between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Gujarat Titans' (GT) bowling attacks in IPL 2024.
Both rely on seasoned Test fast bowlers with limited recent returns in T20s, a world-class spin combination, and a lot of young, Indian names helping them out. It's the difference in execution between the two that has meant that KKR are top of the table as the only team to have qualified so far while GT are eighth.
On Monday, they'll clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad with GT captain and former KKR prospect Shubman Gill having all to fight for. KKR only need momentum and polishing across departments ahead of bigger games.
Below, we have predicted three bowlers who can shine the brightest in the circumstances by picking up the most wickets:
#3 Harshit Rana
KKR's highest wicket-taking pacer Harshit Rana has been a force to be reckoned with in IPL 2024. He was banned for a game in between but since then has taken five wickets in two matches, without even bowling his full quota of overs. He now has 16 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 20.75.
The young right-arm pacer would enjoy bowling in Ahmedabad, where across a variety of pitches, slower ones have always found some grip. Harshit's cutters come from a good height and the pace difference from his quicker ones is immense, making it extremely difficult to read them and get big shots away.
Harshit is among the highest wicket-takers in death overs in IPL 2024 and GT are heavily reliant on their top and middle order to do the job. The match is perfectly set up for him to even become a contender for the purple cap race.
#2 Mohit Sharma
No matter how bad his form gets, Mohit Sharma just seems to know Ahmedabad better than most bowlers in the world. That is what he showed against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with a brilliant match-winning spell of 3/31, using his dipping cutters and back-of-the-hand deliveries to keep GT's IPL 2024 playoff hopes alive.
He now has 29 wickets in 14 matches with an average of 13.14 at the ground, including his best IPL spell of 5/10.
KKR are one of the few teams he hasn't played against here and his tenacity and wicket-taking ability at the death overs might be just what they need against KKR's range of big-hitters.
#1 Varun Chakaravarthy
After the match against Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens, Varun Chakaravarthy spoke about how he did similar things in the first half of IPL 2024 and the second but his returns increased as soon as the pitches started to turn.
And that's him in a nutshell. He's an excellent defensive bowler on flat tracks but a brilliant wicket-taker on turners. And Ahmedabad is likely to offer him turn. He has picked up as many as 10 wickets in the last four matches, bringing down his bowling average from 75 at one point to 20.39.
GT have some good players of spin but Varun, who now has the second-highest number of wickets in IPL 2024, would be a handful for them.