IPL 2024: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today's KKR vs DC

It's always tricky when two teams with as many turn-coats as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) meet in the IPL.

There are Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer at one end. Both captained DC in the same season, with the latter even smashing his best IPL knock against KKR before moving to Eden Gardens. At the other end are Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly, who played for KKR before Gambhir and are now coaching DC.

Adding to the trickery is the teams' equal number of points in IPL 2024 despite KKR playing two games less. There's also the fact that the two-time champions won the last match between the two teams in Delhi's home but have been shaky at home. Finally, DC are a team on the rise with momentum and KKR look filtering.

At Eden, despite the flat tracks, you have to look at your bowling lineups for match-winners and below, we have predicted which three bowlers can do that best:

#3 Sunil Narine

KKR lead spinner Sunil Narine has made himself undroppable from such lists by not going wicketless in a single game in IPL 2024. Although every team is trying to play his four overs out, Narine has managed 10 scalps from eight matches so far.

He's a legend at Eden, with 68 wickets at the venue to show for his efforts. The last time he bowled against DC here was back in 2018 when he returned figures of 3/18. Overall, he has 24 wickets in 23 matches against Delhi at an average of 24.65.

He'll face a tough battle against DC's in-form batters. However, the likes of Jake Fraser-Mcgurk and Tristan Stubbs would look to take him on while left-handers like Rishabh Pant will be vulnerable if there's a hint of turn available, creating ample opportunities for the veteran to get a good haul beside his name.

#2 Mukesh Kumar

There are not many bowlers in the IPL who know Eden Gardens better than DC pacer Mukesh Kumar. It's on this ground and in this city that he has spent most of his first-class career to rise to the Indian team.

Like Narine, Mukesh is also yet to go wicketless in IPL 2024. He has been one of the most underrated fast bowlers in the season, picking up 13 wickets in seven games, including three three-wicket hauls already.

The hint of swing early on will help him against Phil Salt, Narine, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi while his always-improving death-overs qualities would be brilliant for KKR's other weakness - the undercooked-looking lower-order.

#1 Kuldeep Yadav

Another one of the KKR turn-coats, Kuldeep Yadav has been the biggest villain for the franchise since moving to DC. In three matches against them, he has 10 wickets at a ridiculous average of 6.40.

All three matches led to DC wins which is why he was a massive absence from the first match between these two teams in IPL 2024 in Vizag. Now, he's returning to his former home where he has played the most IPL matches for any ground - 22 - and picked 21 wickets at an average of 29.43, including a best spell of 4/20.

The ball isn't turning like usual at Eden but Kuldeep has shown his ability to pick wickets even on flat tracks this season. This might be another game where he shows his ability, fueled by a bit of extra motivation to do it against KKR.