Playing 11 of players to have played for DC and KKR ft. Shreyas Iyer & Andre Russell
DC and KKR will clash tonight in IPL 2024. Both franchises have been a part of all the Indian Premier League seasons played so far. Delhi Capitals (DC) were previously known as Delhi Daredevils, while Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have retained their name in every season since the tournament's inception.
Since KKR and DC have been a part of the IPL for so long, the two franchises have ended up signing some common players. Interestingly, current Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting was a player for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008, while current KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer started his IPL journey at DC.
In this listicle, we will form a playing XI of such cricketers who have represented both KKR and DC in the IPL.
Openers - Gautam Gambhir (c) and Shreyas Iyer
Current KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir and skipper Shreyas Iyer were teammates at Delhi Daredevils in 2018. In fact, Gambhir was the captain of the team in that season, and later on, he handed over the team's reins to Iyer.
Gambhir is the highest run-getter for Kolkata in IPL history with 3,345 runs in 122 matches. On the other side, Iyer is the fourth-highest run-scorer for Delhi, having aggregated 2,375 runs in 87 matches for the franchise.
Middle Order - Dinesh Karthik (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Andre Russell, Sam Billings, and Rajat Bhatia
The middle order consists of two wicketkeepers and two foreign players. Dinesh Karthik, who has captained both KKR and DC, will be the main wicketkeeper of this playing XI. Karthik amassed 1,143 runs for Kolkata, while his aggregated for Delhi was 1,128 runs.
Manoj Tiwary is known for hitting the winning shot for Kolkata in the IPL 2012 final. For Delhi, he played 27 matches and scored 355 runs. All-rounder Andre Russell started his journey with Delhi but achieved more success at Kolkata, scoring 2,333 runs and picking up 99 wickets.
Sam Billings had short stints with both franchises. The England wicketkeeper scored 226 runs for Delhi and 169 runs for Kolkata. Bowling all-rounder Rajat Bhatia scalped 19 wickets for Delhi and 32 wickets for Kolkata besides chipping in with vital batting contributions whenever needed.
Bowlers - Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, and Morne Morkel
Umesh Yadav will form the pace attack of this team along with Morne Morkel and Pat Cummins. Yadav scalped 65 wickets for Kolkata and 47 wickets for Delhi. Meanwhile, Morkel won the Purple Cap as a part of the Delhi squad in 2012. He moved to KKR in 2014 and ended with 32 wickets in 29 games for the franchise.
Kuldeep Yadav had a stint full of ups and downs with Kolkata from 2014 to 2020. In those seasons, he played 50 matches and scalped 46 wickets. For Delhi, he has already taken 34 wickets in 30 games.
The last name on the team is of current Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, Pat Cummins. The Aussie pacer bagged 30 wickets for KKR and 15 wickets for DC. Notably, he also scored three half-centuries for the Knight Riders in the IPL.