Playing XI
Venue Insights (Abu Dhabi)
Highest Team Total: 206/4 By Punjab Against Chennai In 2014.
Lowest Team Total: 70/10 By Bangalore Against Rajasthan In 2014.
Highest Individual Score: 95 By Glenn Maxwell (Punjab) Against Chennai In 2014.
Best Bowling Figures: 4/20 By Sunil Narine (Kolkata) Against Mumbai In 2014.
Highest Partnership: 131 By Jacques Kallis And Manish Pandey (Kolkata) For 2nd Wicket Against Mumbai In 2014.
Win Rate Batting First: 60% (6 Won; 4 Lost)
Top Fantasy Picks - All Rounders
Stoinis is certainly one of the best all-rounders of this season. He is one of the two players with a double of 200+ runs and 5+ wickets this season; thus proving his complete all-round ability.
If Narine plays against Delhi, he might be an interesting pick for Kolkata. He last played this season against Punjab on 10th Oct in which he had taken 2/28 and before that match he had 1/31 alongwith 17 runs.
With 45 runs and 4 wickets in the last 5 matches, Axar is certainly looking in good rhythm.
Top Fantasy Picks - Bowlers
The purple cap holder (2 wickets) with a purple patch this season should be the first choice pick for any Fantasy player. Stat alert: Rabada has taken at least a wicket in his last 24 IPL matches (total 49 wickets in these matches)
Lockie Ferguson has already taken 4 wickets in 2 matches so far this season. Also, in the last match where Kolkata’s batsmen didn't perform well, Ferguson put up 19 runs with the bat.
Ashwin has been chipping in with wickets in odd matches for Delhi and with the pitches slowing down, he might play a very important role. His bowling figures at Abu Dhabi in the IPL: 1/35, 2/3 and 2/41
Top Fantasy Picks - Batsmen & Keepers
With back to back hundreds and two fifties before those two, Dhawan is certainly in purple patch currently. A look at his last 5 matches against Kolkata: 26, 97*, 16, 34 and 50.
Shubman Gill is the only Kolkata batsman with more than 300 runs this season (312 runs). Also his 2 fifties this season (57 and 70*) both have come at Abu Dhabi.
Iyer has had a great run against Kolkata in recent times, scoring 230 runs at SR of 198 in the last 4 matches.
Probable XI
Kolkata : Shubman Gill, Tom Banton, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan(c), Dinesh Karthik(wk), Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy.
Delhi : Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rishabh Pant(wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Daniel Sams Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Tushar Deshpande.
Preview
Match 42 in the League sees Kolkata pitted against Delhi. Both teams are coming from a loss in their previous games. Loss though is an understatement in Kolkata's perspective - they were absolutely hammered. They desperately need a win not just to hold on to their No. 4 spot but also make sure they firmly secure a berth for the playoffs. They would not want any more slip-ups. Table-toppers Delhi also lost their last game, to Punjab, but they are quite comfortable with 14 points and 4 games to go, including this one. What will be the team changes from their side? Will Nortje be rested for another game or will he be back? Delhi will back themselves to cash in on Kolkata's low confidence level and take the game in their favour.
Toss : Delhi won the toss and elected to bowl first.