Kolkata Knight Riders have begun their IPL 2024 campaign on a strong note, winning both their matches so far.

The team seemed to have made the right moves, best demonstrated in the way Sunil Narine blasted 47 off 22 balls as an opener in the Powerplay overs against RCB. They
meet Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday in what is expected to be a keen contest with the likes of Prithvi Shaw, David Warner and Rishabh Pant back among runs for Delhi.

Delhi will hope their top-order fires again since their batting doesn’t have the depth some other franchises boast of.

Shaw was among runs in his first game this season, against CSK, while Warner has the highest aggregate against KKR among all batters — 1075. Pant’s move to No.3 paid off in their last match and how he fares could decide the contest.

Mitchell Starc’s performance will be followed closely after a disastrous start to the tournament. Yet to take a wicket, he has been taken for a total of 100 runs.

KKR bowling coach Bharat Arun said the conditions could dictate their choice of the playing XI. “The biggest challenge for us would be to understand and adapt to the conditions. We are up for anything. It is the same surface for both the teams,” Arun said.

The pitch had a decent covering of grass in the CSK game. It aided swing and even swung under lights. The Knights will be hoping conditions remain the same.

Nitish Rana is unavailable having failed to recover from the finger injury suffered in the opener at Eden Gardens. Venkatesh Iyer too suffered back spasms during his half-century against RCB but is “fit and raring to go”.

Kuldeep Yadav missed the game against CSK because of a niggle but will play against KKR. “I hope the crowd will be with DC this time,” Delhi batting coach Pravin Amre said.