IPL 2021, KKR vs DC Playing 11: Why is Steve Smith starting in place of Prithvi Shaw?

The Delhi Capitals will aim to confirm a birth for the IPL 2021 qualifiers today when they lock horns with the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The Capitals current find themselves 2nd on the table with 16 points from ten matches and win here should ensure them a place in the next round. Meanwhile, KKR have eight points from their 10 games. The team had a poor Indian Leg, but returned back-to-back wins against the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Mumbai Indians in the first two games of the ongoing UAE leg, before going down against the Super Kings. 

Both teams will look to go out all guns blazing as the fight for the top four intensifies, and thus fans can expect today's KKR vs DC game to be a great contest.

IPL 2021: KKR vs DC team news and toss update

The Kolkata Knight Riders have won the toss and decided to bowl first. The KKR captain Eoin Morgan said that the pitch is not an absolute belter, nor is it really bad. It's somewhere in between and thus KKR will want to bowl first. He further added that the team has made a couple of changes. Andre Russell misses out due to an injury and Tim Southee comes in for him. While Kerala speedster Sandeep Warrier comes in in place of Prasidh Krishna.

Meanwhile, The Delhi Capitals captain Rishab Pant was happy and said that had he won the toss he would have batted first and expected the pitch to play out slow. The Capitals have brought in Steve Smith in place of Prithvi Shaw who carries a slight niggle. The Capitals went in with three foreigners the last match when Marcus Stoinis was replaced by Lalit Yadav in the XI. 

IPL 2021:  KKR vs DC Playing 11

KKR Playing XI: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (w), Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy, Sandeep Warrier

DC Playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (w), Shimron Hetmyer, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan

Image: Twitter/@IPL/BCCI