IPL 2021, Qualifier 2 Live Updates: Ferguson is running in hard and hitting the hard lengths. It’s very difficult to generate pace on this wicket it seems. It a very slow surface. Dhawan looks to slash at a couple but misses. It’s that low bounce again that’s making it difficult for the batsmen to connect it off the middle. Just the four singles in the over. A decent Powerplay for KKR, Delhi are – 38/1

Preview: The 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gears up for its second last match as two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) take on last year’s runner-up Delhi Capitals (DC) in Qualifier 2 in Sharjah on Wednesday.

While both teams have been consistent in the UAE leg of IPL 2021 to eventually make it to the playoffs, the Eoin Morgan-led KKR deserve special credit for turning things around spectacularly in recent weeks, for they faced the prospect of being among the first teams to get eliminated around the time the league got suspended in May.

Kolkata won five of their seven-remaining games, and beat defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) to the fourth playoff spot on the basis of superior Net Run Rate after the top three slots had been sealed by DC, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Kolkata then continued their fairytale run as thanks to a stellar all-round show from Sunil Narine, KKR handed RCB a four-wicket loss to inch closer to their dream of winning a third IPL title and drawing level with the MS Dhoni-led CSK.

File image of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Eoin Morgan and his Delhi Capitals counterpart Rishabh Pant. Sportzpics

Delhi, have once again been impressive this season after their playoffs finish in 2019 followed by their maiden appearance in the final the following year. While they finished on top of the points table at the end of the round-robin stage with 10 wins from 14 games, they have hit a roadblock of sorts with defeats in their last two games — against RCB in their final league game followed by a four-wicket loss to CSK in Qualifier 1.

Momentum, thus will be on KKR’s side heading into the penultimate game of the season, but skipper Rishabh Pant and coach Ricky Ponting will back themselves to shrug off the defeats and come out stronger, especially with a world-class pace attack at their disposal along with the promising form of batters such as Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Shimron Hetmyer in addition to the captain himself.

Teams (from):

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Ripal Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimrom Hetmyar, Shreyas Iyer, Steve Smith, Amit Mishra, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan, Ben Dwarshuis, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lukman Meriwala, Pravin Dubey, Tom Curran, Umesh Yadav, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sam Billings and Vishnu Vinod.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Eoin Morgan (Captain), Dinesh Karthik, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathy, Shubman Gill, Harbhajan Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pawan Negi, M Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Dube, Tim Southee, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russel, Ben Cutting, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson, Tim Seifert.

Match starts at 7:30 PM IST.