Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals Predictions & Tips - In-form Rahul backed to shine again

KL Rahul was the leading run scorer in last year’s Indian Premier League and leads the charts once again this season. He scored 91 runs in his last match, so my best bet is for the opener to score over 25.5 runs and dominate again.

Delhi Capitals have won three of their last five matches against the Punjab Kings.

When they met earlier in this year’s IPL the Capitals won by six wickets with 10 balls to spare.

The Punjab Kings have won three of their seven matches and sit fifth on the IPL table. They have been hugely inconsistent this season, fluctuating between superb performances and very poor ones.

Last time out they were brilliant against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Ahmedabad. Batting first KL Rahul set the tone with 91 unbeaten runs. Around him Chris Gayle scored 46 off 24 balls and Harpeet Brar hit 25 runs.

The 179 run total was a competitive one. RCB made a solid start but then Harpeet Brar destroyed their batting lineup taking 3-19 in four overs. In the end the Royal Challengers could only muster 145 runs as the Kings won by 34 runs.

Mayank Agarwal should return for this match after being rested for Prabhsimran Singh last time out. Nicholas Pooran could face the drop after scoring 0, 0, 9, 0, 19 and 0 in his six innings in the IPL thus far.

Delhi Capitals are second on the Indian Premier League table with five wins from their seven matches. The 2020 IPL runners-up have started the season strongly and showed their quality by beating the Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets in Ahmedabad in their last match.

The Knight Riders batted first and scored 154 runs on a good batting wicket. Lalit Yadav took 2-13 in three overs while Axar Patel also managed two wickets.

The batsmen made the total look well below par as Prithvi Shaw smashed 82 off 41 balls. That included 25 runs in the first over of the innings.

Shikhar Dhawan scored 46 in a 132-run opening stand. That broke the back of the chase and the Capitals cruised home with three and a half overs to spare.

The Capitals are in a good space at the moment. They are unlikely to change their team around too much although Anrich Nortje will get a game at some point. He could come in for Kagiso Rabada who has not been at his best this season.