Delhi Capitals (DC), who are going through a nightmarish campaign in the ongoing Indian Premier League, locked horns with the former champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday (April 20). Against KKR, DC will look to open their winning account in IPL 2023 after suffering five consecutive defeats earlier.
Meanwhile, India's batting great Sunil Gavaskar and former Caribbean star cricketer Ian Bishop brutally trolled former Delhi Daredevils' (now Delhi Capitals) star batter Kevin Pietersen on-air in the commentary box during DC's home against Nitish Rana-led side. Gavaskar, Bishop and Pietersen are part of IPL 2023's elite commentary panel.
Pietersen was associated with Delhi-based franchise in 2014 and was leading the pack back then. Delhi Capitals' had a similar story in IPL 2013 as they have now, when suffered five successive losses to finish last on the points table. Cut to 2023, DC's captain might have changed but their fate still remains unchanged with David Warner at the helm. DC are reeling at the bottom of the table in IPL 2023 with five back-to-back defeats.
Bishop while mentioning DC's horror show in the IPL 2023, said that the Delhi-based franchise has lost the first five matches straight for the first time since 2013. Bishop was in fit of laughter while saying this and later clarified that he had no intentions to highlight Delhi's forgetful season when Pietersen their captain.
Pietersen was acquired for a Rs 9 crore and was given the onus to lead the Delhi team in IPL 2014.
“Only the second time that Delhi Capitals have lost their first five games of their season. It last happened back in 2013 (laughs). Kevin Pietersen has just put his hand in the air and said he was the captain back then. That's not my intimation,” Bishop said while commentating during the DC versus KKR match.
Follow the DC vs KKR's live scores here
“I put my hand up and said guilty as captain. Let's hope it doesn't happen to Warner this evening. Absolutely not, they have won the toss and that's the first job done very well. And for this great city, for this great fan base. They got to get off to a winning start in this campaign this evening Sunny,” Pietersen added to Bishop's comment.
Gavaskar did no less to pull Pietersen's leg and joined Bishop in trolling the former England's skipper. “Absolutely, they have to get their campaign going. I don't know what you said to your team after those losses to lift themselves up. That's something Warner will want to tell his team. To be positive, to believe in yourself, to grab the hard chances. That is so important, field well and restrict KKR to a total that is gettable,” Gavaskar added.
Talking about the match, DC rode on exceptional bowling performance to restrict KKR for a paltry total of 127. DC will look to munch on this opportuning and getting back to winning way by chasing the lowly total down.
Earlier, DC skipper Warner opted to bowl first after winning the toss.
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Philip Salt(w), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar.
Subs: Shaw, Dhull, Sarfaraz, Sakariya and Ripal Patel
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Litton Das(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Mandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Subs: Anukul, Vaibhav, Weise, Suyash and Jagadeesan
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