IPL 2021: "I feel Delhi's campaign will end today" - Aakash Chopra makes his predictions for the KKR-DC encounter
Aakash Chopra has predicted that the Delhi Capitals (DC) will be eliminated from IPL 2021 as they will come up short in tonight's encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
The Rishabh Pant and Eoin Morgan-led sides will cross swords in Qualifier 2 to earn a spot in the Indian Premier League title decider against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). While DC are coming into the match after suffering defeats in their last two matches, KKR have the winning momentum.
While making his predictions for the KKR-DC clash in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra opined that it will be the end of the road for the IPL 2020 finalists. He reasoned:
"I am saying Kolkata will win. I feel Delhi's campaign will end today, you will not be able to win the match today. You will bid goodbye to this tournament because of self-goals and unforced errors again. There was no reason for you to not score 180 that day and there was no reason for you to not defend that total with one over of Rabada left. Sharjah's ground is not going to suit your game."
The former India cricketer feels Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik will have at least one stumping against their name. Aakash Chopra observed:
"One batter will be stumped out. Why? I don't know."
KKR will certainly go into the Qualifier 2 clash against DC as the favorites. They are better acclimatized to the conditions in Sharjah and the Delhi Capitals have a lot of issues to address.
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"Spinners will take more than five wickets" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra reckons the spinners from both sides will spin their web of magic on the Sharjah track. He predicted:
"Spinners will take more than five wickets."
The former KKR player also feels the left-handed openers will outscore the right-handed ones. Aakash Chopra said:
"Left-handed openers to score more runs than right-handed openers. That means Shikhar Dhawan and Venkatesh Iyer will score more runs than Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw."
The spinners will surely feel at home on the Sharjah surface. The spells of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Shakib Al Hasan were the differentiating factor in the last game between KKR and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
While Shaw and Gill have tried to be the more dominating opener from their respective sides in the last couple of matches, Dhawan and Iyer have been more sedate. The Sharjah track might be more favorable to batsmen looking to build their innings as it has generally not been conducive to strokeplay.