Having suffered two defeats in their last four matches, including the six-wicket loss to RCB on Sunday, Delhi Capitals will aim to get back on track and avoid any late stumbles in their impressive IPL 2025 campaign when they take on a struggling Kolkata Knight Riders at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Tuesday.

With the tournament heading to its business end, the Delhi side would expect improvement from their batting department that lacked the fire and intent against RCB. Placed at the fourth spot in the IPL points table, DC faces stiff competition from Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants, which is why it’s crucial to get the momentum back.

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Against RCB, young Abhishek Porel showed the right aggression while opening the innings but the side would expect more from the seasoned South African Faf du Plessis, who is yet to get used to the sluggish Kotla track.

As such, the onus is on KL Rahul, who has been Delhi Capitals’ most successful batter in the ongoing season, to back himself after failing to accelerate against the RCB spinners on Sunday night. Against KKR, he will be up for a stiffer challenge against the likes of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy.

Karun Nair, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma and skipper Axar Patel will be expected to shoulder the responsibility of flexing their muscles against the spinners, and ensure that the side gets to a sizeable total.

In the bowling department, Axar led from the front with a couple of wickets but found little support from others. Kuldeep Yadav will also back himself to target the misfiring KKR middle order, while left-arm quick Mitchell Starc, who went wicketless against RCB, will look to exploit the weaknesses in his former team.

On the other hand, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders are struggling for consistency throughout the season. KKR have so far managed just seven points and are placed seventh in the standings, having failed to collect any points from their last three matches, including two losses and a no-result.

Quite expectedly, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side will be looking to gain some momentum before it gets too late for them. Despite boosting quality spinners in their ranks, KKR leaked 201 runs against Punjab Kings, and thus would be desperate to arrest the slide on a track that could suit their slower bowlers.

With their playoff hopes fading rapidly, KKR will have their task cut out for all departments, more specially their batting. While their top order has failed to do an encore of their last season’s performances, with Quinton de Kock and Rahmanullah Gurbaz being rotated in the opening slot alongside Narine, while the side has relied heavily on Rahane and youngster Angkrish Raghuvanshi to pile up the runs.

The middle order, consisting of the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh has struggled to make a significant impact.

In the bowling department, KKR will expect their frontline pacers in Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora to get some early breakthroughs, especially during the powerplay, to help the side get into the rhythm. While their bowlers have managed to pull back the side at the death, the lack of wickets up front has allowed opposition to set up daunting targets.

Squads:

Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (c), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Sameer Rizvi, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreira, Tripurana Vijay, Dushmantha Chameera, Faf du Plessis, T Natarajan, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Manvanth Kumar L, Madhav Tiwari.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Chetan Sakariya.