The Delhi Capitals sit bottom of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 standings having lost all 5 matches of their campaign so far. One of the biggest problems for the team has been poor performance of the top order, including young opening batter Prithvi Shaw. With pressure increasing on skipper David Warner and other senior players, the Delhi Capitals management could decide to drop Shaw and make one or two more changes in the team in order to find more stability, hoping for a win against the Knight Riders.
Shaw's spot in the playing XI has come under the scanner after the Mumbai player could manage just 34 runs in five outings this season, with a highest of 15.
With DC having lost all five games so far this season, a shuffle of the top order against KKR at the Ferozeshah Kotla in a bid to revive their fortunes could be on the cards.
Sarfaraz Khan, who has earlier been tried as a wicketkeeper-batter, could be drafted in as a specialist opener for powerplay overs, while the other option could be to promote veteran Manish Pandey.
For the David Warner-led side, this is a must-win situation as all routes to playoffs will mathematically be shut if they suffer another defeat.
While there has been criticism around skipper Warner's slow strike rate, the Australian opener's struggles seem more because he has never got the freedom to accelerate, with wickets falling at the other end.
Warner has scored 228 runs in five games at a strike rate of around 116.
The other disappointment has been Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh at No.3. It remains to be see if Rilee Rossouw and Rovman Powell get back in the mix.
Yash Dhull has a serious technical flaw in his batting and has not been able to rectify the early trigger movement of shuffling towards the off-stump, making him an ideal candidate for LBW decisions to incoming deliveries.
DC's bench strength too is pretty poor and that's one of the reasons even out-of-form players are not being replaced.
DC Likely Playing XI: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner (c), Mitchell Marsh, Yash Dhull, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Abhishek Porel (wk), Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman
With PTI inputs