IPL 2026: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals - Final League Match Preview

Kolkata. The second match of Sunday in IPL 2026 will be played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals.

This is also the last league match of this season. The match will start from 7:45 PM at Eden Gardens Stadium.

Kolkata has a last chance to reach the playoffs in this match. Kolkata is in sixth place with 13 points from 13 matches. On the other hand, Delhi is out of the playoff race after Punjab's win on Saturday. Delhi is in eighth place with 12 points from 13 matches.

• Head-to-Head Record: Kolkata has the upper hand

35 matches have been played between Kolkata and Delhi. Kolkata has the upper hand in this. The team has won 20 matches, while Delhi has won 14 matches. One match has been a draw.

• Top Scorer Raghuwanshi Out, Expectation from Allen

Angkrish Raghuwanshi has scored the most runs for Kolkata this season with 422 runs, but he is out for the entire season due to injury. In his absence, the team will expect from Finn Allen. Allen has already scored 329 runs from 10 matches with the help of one century and one half-century.

Kartik Tyagi has taken the most wickets for the team. He has 18 wickets to his name. Mustafizur Rahman returned late due to injury. Harshit Rana and Aakash Deep are also out due to injury earlier. The franchise had kept Mustafizur Rahman out before the IPL started.

• Delhi's batting depends on KL Rahul

Delhi's batting this season has been dependent on KL Rahul. The team's top scorer Rahul has scored 533 runs from 13 matches with the help of one century and 4 half-centuries. Pathum Nissanka (278 runs), Tristan Stubbs (275 runs) and Sameer Rizvi (252 runs) have contributed on some occasions. However, these three have lacked consistency.

In bowling, captain Axar Patel (10 wickets) and Kuldeep Yadav (7 wickets) spin pair have not been able to make much impact. However, Mitchell Starc, who came late in the competition, has definitely impressed. He has already taken 9 wickets in 5 matches.

Will be watched

• Cameron Green

Green could not score runs at the start of the season. He struggled for timing, and moving him around in the middle order did not help. However, after scoring 79 against Gujarat Titans, he has stabilized Kolkata's lineup by crossing the 30-run mark five times in eight innings.

More importantly, he has been decisive with his bowling. His best spell so far came in the last match against Mumbai, where he took the wickets of Riyan Rickelton and Naman Dhir while giving away 23 runs. He took 2 wickets.

• Abhishek Porel

Abhishek Porel's season with Delhi has been up and down. Along with Rahul, Pathum Nissanka, the first-choice opener, had to be dropped in the last few matches to accommodate David Miller in the lower order.

Porel, playing only his third match of the season, made full use of the opportunity he got in his place. He completed his half-century in just 29 balls, facing bowlers like Jofra Archer and Adam Milne in the powerplay. His innings included seven fours and one six, and he will want to continue this good form.

Pitch and Weather Report

This match will be played under floodlights on pitch number 5 at Eden Gardens: which indicates a high-scoring game. In the only match played on this pitch this season, Kolkata scored 226 runs for the loss of 8 wickets, while Hyderabad was all out for 161 runs in reply.

Spin could be important for both teams: in the last two IPL years, spinners have been more economical (9.16) compared to fast bowlers (10.78). The weather will also pose a big challenge for both teams. The temperature is expected to be around 35 degrees Celsius, but due to 68% humidity, Kolkata will feel very hot.

• Who will keep wickets for Kolkata?

Raghuwanshi was Kolkata's most successful batter this season with 422 runs in 12 innings, including five half-centuries. Then, his left-hand finger was fractured and he suffered a 'concussion'. He is now out of this IPL. His concussion substitute, Tejashwi Dahiya, is likely to retain his place in the playing 12 as Kolkata's wicketkeeper. Otherwise, they will have to make space for an extra batter by placing their New Zealand opener Finn Allen behind the stumps.

• Kolkata Knight Riders (Probable Playing 12): 1. Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), 2. Finn Allen, 3. Cameron Green, 4. Rovman Powell, 5. Manish Pandey, 6. Rinku Singh, 7. Tejashwi Dahiya (Wicketkeeper), 8. Sunil Narine, 9. Anukul Roy, 10. Varun Chakravarthy, 11. Saurabh Dubey, 12. Kartik Tyagi.

In Delhi's previous match against Rajasthan, they brought in Tripurana Vijay in place of Aqib Nabi. That spinner conceded 29 runs in two overs without taking any wickets, which proved very expensive. Possibly, they might swap these two and bring Nabi back.

• Delhi Capitals (Probable Playing 12): 1. Abhishek Porel, 2. KL Rahul (Wicketkeeper), 3. Sahil Parkar, 4. Tristan Stubbs, 5. David Miller, 6. Ashutosh Sharma, 7. Axar Patel (Captain), 8. Mukesh Kumar, 9. Madhav Tiwari, 10. Tripurana Vijay/Aqib Nabi, 11. Mitchell Starc, 12. Lungi Ngidi.

Statistics and Interesting Information

Delhi has struggled to win the powerplay this season: their batting run rate in the first six overs is the lowest this year (8.7), and while bowling, they have taken only 13 wickets at an average of 62.7 and a strike rate of 36 - which is the worst statistic among all ten teams.

Kolkata has also had a slow start in batting. In the powerplay, they are the ninth slowest batting team (just above Delhi) - with a run rate of 8.8 and the lowest boundary-hitting ball ratio of 4.5.

In their first six matches, Varun was in the worst form of the IPL: he was bowling at an economy of 10.7 and a strike rate of 39. In his last six matches, those statistics have dropped to 8.6 and 24 respectively. Once again, he has turned into a threat in the middle overs, focusing on good length deliveries and taking six wickets in the last six matches.