Check all updates on Sharjah weather, rain forecast, venue and pitch for the Qualifier 2 match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Kolkata Knight Riders will look for a spot in the finals as they take on Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2 of the IPL 2021 in Sharjah. A comprehensive win in the Eliminator against Royal Challengers Bangalore would have certainly boosted the morale of Kolkata, who are going for their third IPL trophy. Delhi, on the other hand, come into the contest after losing in Qualifier 1 to Chennai Super Kings.
A bulk of Kolkata's success in the UAE leg, winning six out of eight matches, has been around fantastic starts by their openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer. Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana have also contributed with vital knocks. On the bowling front, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine have picked wickets for fun on sluggish wickets. Narine, who picked up a four-fer in the Eliminator to spin out Bangalore, will be hoping for another match-winning show in Sharjah.
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Dinesh Karthik(w), Eoin Morgan(c), Shakib Al Hasan, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Harbhajan Singh, Tim Southee, Andre Russell, Ben Cutting, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sheldon Jackson, Sandeep Warrier, Tim Seifert, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Vaibhav Arora
For Delhi, openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan have been able to click with the bat. Former skipper Shreyas Iyer will also hope to steer the Delhi outfit to its second successive IPL final. Avesh Khan, currently second in the Purple Cap race with 23 wickets to his name, will look to inch closer to Harshal Patel (32 wickets). Delhi, however, will be concerned about the recent form of Ravichandran Ashwin and Kagiso Rabada.
Both Delhi and Kolkata have beaten each other once in the ongoing season.
Delhi Capitals Squad: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Axar Patel, Shimron Hetmyer, Tom Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav, Steven Smith, Sam Billings, Marcus Stoinis, Lukman Meriwala, Ben Dwarshuis, Praveen Dubey, Vishnu Vinod, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel
PITCH REPORT
The Sharjah surface has mostly required batters to spend time on it before going gung-ho but failing to settle down could only bring you more trouble. One can expect the side winning the toss to bat first and put on a sizeable total. Dew too could come into the picture and toss will play a key role in the contest.
WEATHER UPDATES
It's expected to be a warm day in Sharjah with the temperature fluctuating around 35-40 degrees Celsius in the evening. The teams are expected no respite from the heatwave while rain interruption is not a possibility. No sandstorm interruptions predicted as well.
