Crucial points up for grabs as race for playoffs heats up

We are at that stage of the Indian Premier League 2022 where a single defeat could derail your entire campaign. Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are all but out of the playoff race, while Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants are slightly ahead of the remaining teams. Kolkata Knight Riders have a mountain to climb, and then there are teams like Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals who find themselves in the middle of the points table. 

Two of the latter five franchises, Delhi and Hyderabad, will look for those crucial two points when they come face to face against each other at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday (May 5). SRH looked almost invincible during their five-match winning streak but have lost their last two encounters. Meanwhile, the Capitals have been super inconsistent and are yet to win two games in a row. Delhi would be slightly more desperate for a win, and so would be David Warner, who will be going up against his former franchise.

Consecutive bad games for SRH bowling unit

Kane Williamson and Co. started their campaign with a couple of defeats before winning five games in a row and that happened largely because of their bowling unit. In those five matches, their bowlers operated at an economy of just 7.4 and also picked up a wicket every 16.9 deliveries. However, their bowlers have been taken to the cleaners in the last two games. Gujarat chased down a target of 196 before Chennai amassed 202 and Hyderabad fell short by 13 runs. So, what has gone wrong in the last two matches?

Marco Jansen played a key role in Hyderabad’s turnaround after the Orange Army lost their first two encounters. The left-arm paceman from South Africa didn’t feature in the first two games but was very impactful in the next five, claiming seven wickets at an economy of just 7.2. However, in the last two matches, he has been very inconsistent with line and length and has leaked runs at 12.6 runs per over. If you look at the below graphics, Jansen has bowled a lot more slot deliveries and has paid the price.

Unlike most of the teams, Hyderabad don’t have an attacking wristspinner in their XI and their premier spinner Washington Sundar has been struggling with his fitness. The all-rounder missed three games in between before making a comeback against Gujarat. However, the 22-year-old suffered another injury against Chennai and couldn’t bowl a single over, forcing Williamson to use Aiden Markram. The likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik and T Natarajan have all been pretty good in patches but will have to be consistent as a unit if SRH want to qualify for the playoffs.

Time to look beyond Lalit Yadav?

Delhi have put a lot of faith in Lalit but haven’t got much in return, especially after the first two games. The 25-year-old has managed 137 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 109.6 and has also conceded runs at an economy of 8.47. In the last three games, that economy has gone up to 11.1. What’s more, amongst batters who have played at least 80 deliveries in the middle-phase (overs 7-15), Lalit has the worst strike rate (108.5) and average (17.8). Delhi don’t have too many options in the squad who can bat in the middle-order and also bowl a couple of overs, but if needed, they can try someone like Ripal Patel.

Too much dependency on Kuldeep

Kuldeep Yadav is having the time of his life, but apart from him and Khaleel Ahmed, the other Delhi bowlers simply haven’t picked up enough wickets. Khaleel is currently injured and has missed the last two games, putting more pressure on Kuldeep. Apart from these two, not a single DC bowler has a strike rate of less than 24. Kuldeep and Khaleel have managed 28 wickets between them in 56.4 overs, while the other bowlers have taken only 24 wickets in 122.4 overs. 

Delhi have won four games this season and Kuldeep has been Player of the Match in all those games. The left-arm wristspinner has taken 13 wickets in those matches, but in the remaining five, he only has four wickets and Delhi have lost all those games. And, that tells you how much Delhi rely on Kuldeep when it comes to taking wickets. Kuldeep doesn’t bowl in the powerplay and Delhi have struggled badly in that phase. They have the second-worst bowling average (36.8) and balls/wicket (29.4) in the first six overs. 

Probable XIs

Delhi Capitals - Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Lalit Yadav/Ripal Patel, Rovman Powell, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya/Khaleel Ahmed (subject to fitness).

Sunrisers Hyderabad - Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson (c), Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shashank Singh, Washington Sundar (subject to fitness)/Jagadeesha Suchith, Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan.