PRE MATCH ANALYSIS
Follow UsIt has taken a fair while, about a month and 40 games to be precise, but the IPL 2022 points table has finally started to take shape. We now know that, despite about 42% of the season left to be played, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are already all but out of contention to make it to the playoffs. Mathematically, CSK can still make it to the final four, but it would need a hell of an effort from the Super Kings to win all their remaining matches and drastically improve the Net Run Rate. At the moment, such a heist looks unlikely.
We also know that Rajasthan and Gujarat are clear favorites to make it to the playoffs, having already gotten to 12 points, with Lucknow and Sunrisers the two other likeliest teams to make it to the top four. RCB could have been mentioned in the same breath had they managed to win on Tuesday, but the defeat against the Royals has now put the Faf du Plessis-led side in quite a precarious position.
With as many as five teams in double digits, and with Punjab Kings on 8 points, it wouldn’t be a hyperbole, then, to call Thursday’s clash between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Delhi Capitals a do-or-die contest.
Both teams currently find themselves on 6 points, and a loss would see them drift further away from the chasing pack. In particular, defeat on Thursday will be calamitous for Kolkata, who with a loss would be stuck on 6 points with just five games left. Shreyas Iyer’s side would then be in a position where they’ll have to win all their remaining matches to stand a chance of qualifying.
And even though both Kolkata and Delhi will be entering Thursday’s clash on the back of defeats in their last respective matches, it’s the Capitals who will begin the contest as favorites. Not only have they already beaten the Knight Riders once, earlier in the season, their opponents are currently on a four-match losing streak, having last won a game 21 days ago. Delhi have been inconsistent all season, but, as things stand, they are functioning as a side far better than the Knight Riders are.
Delhi need to utilize Rovman Powell better
The problem, however, is that DC have relied too much on Warner and Shaw. Between them, the two batters have nearly scored 40% of Delhi’s runs for the season. It’s largely been a no-show from the middle-order, that has not fired consistently enough to help the team string together wins.
It goes without saying that DC have had rotten luck, with Mitch Marsh first sustaining an injury and then Covid, but Rishabh Pant-led side have not helped themselves by not properly utilizing Rovman Powell.
The Jamaican, this season, has batted six times, but has found himself batting in four different positions. Against Rajasthan he walked in at No.8, and only twice has he found himself walking in to bat before the 11th over.
In order to get the best out of the right-hander, DC might have to consider batting the 28-year-old in the Top 4.
In the 3 months that preceded the IPL, Powell smashed 242 runs in T20s at an average of 60.5 and a remarkable SR of 187.6. What’s to be noted here is that it’s at No.4 where Powell predominantly batted during this phase, amassing 205 runs at an average of 68.33 and SR of 188.1.
As much as Delhi would like to think of Powell as a pure finisher, he is not; he is so much more. The Big Jamaican is someone who can rotate strike effectively, take on both spin and pace and put the opposition under immense pressure in the middle-overs. Thus far this IPL, he’s not been afforded the opportunity to do so.
With the Sarfaraz/Mandeep Singh experiment not working effectively anyway, the time has perhaps come for the Capitals to push Powell higher up the order and allow him more time to make a significant impact.
KKR have plenty of headaches to solve on the batting front
The Knight Riders have lost four in a row and for good reason. As things stand, they are statistically the worst batting side in the league.
And heading into Thursday’s clash against the Capitals, they have plenty of headaches that need solving.
To start with, KKR first need to figure out who their openers are. They’ve already used five different openers and four different opening pairs, and in the last two games tried opening with Sunil Narine. That move fell flat as after a diamond duck versus Rajasthan, Narine registered a painful 5(5) against Gujarat.
KKR will have to take a call on whether they stick with Narine. If the answer is ‘no’, then they’ll have to figure out who opens with Finch (assuming the Australian to be fit and available).
The inconsistency of the middle-order has been a problem too. Skipper Shreyas Iyer has played excellent knocks this season, but the consistency has been missing from his game: Iyer hasn’t registered back-to-back 30+ scores all season.
Meanwhile, Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer have been struggling immeasurably, both batters averaging below 20.
The middle-order has struggled against short balls and raw pace, but given Nortje is likely to sit out Thursday’s clash, KKR should have some respite on that front, considering DC don’t have the paciest of attacks. But in the reverse fixture the KKR batters were bamboozled by Kuldeep Yadav, so that’s also something they’ll need to be wary of as well.
Bowling has let KKR down in certain moments, but it’s the batting that has been their Achilles Heel. Come Thursday, it’ll have to fire if the Knight Riders are to turn around their fortunes and stay in contention for the playoffs.
Probable XIs
DC: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Khaleel Ahmed
KKR: Aaron Finch, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
