Follow UsDefying all the pre-season lull calls, Kolkata have been utterly dominant this season. Partly aided by the presence of some incredible strikers down the order and partly because their bowling unit has come together to sing a lullaby of their own. You call it chin music, Kolkata fans feel the taste of mishti Dohi. Such have been their expectations at the moment that anything less than a title would be a deeply disappointing finish.
On the other end stands Delhi Capitals, who thanks to their prudent calls in the auction were touted as the early-season favourites and have the firepower to match the hype. However, with only one win from three games, not only have they faltered big-time but failed to solicit a presence in the echelon they deserved. You can call it the fate of their own doing, but only a fool would write them off, especially with David Warner and Anrich Nortje yet to hit the peak.
What would be the scale of operations then? That is a convoluted story both sides would want to tread on to find a solution to the discourse. Will Umesh Yadav continue to fire? Can Pat Cummins repeat his batting heroics down the order? Or will Prithvi Shaw manage to tonk a few more scathing knocks in the upcoming games to deliver a masterclass of his own?
Delhi’s batting woes at the top
Delhi Capitals have a side to win the championship and that is no more a doubt. However, the staggering proposition of their top order leaves a lot of things to pure chance. While Prithvi Shaw was excellent against Lucknow Super Giants, David Warner, returning to Delhi after nine years, struggled to put the ball to the bat. Warner has struggled to find form in the tournament since 2021 scoring runs at just an average of 22.1 and among openers with the minimum of 100 runs since IPL 2021, Warner has the 3rd lowest average and 2nd lowest SR. That is definitely a concern.
And as Aakash Sivasubramaniam noted in his analysis, Pant’s approach has been questionable for a long time now. Since IPL 2020, Pant has a strike rate of 121.8, which falls alarmingly to just 105.82 against the tweakers. Against the spinners, the Delhi skipper only scores a boundary after 10.1 deliveries, once again showing his inability against the slower bowlers. With Kolkata having a surfeit of spinners, you know the story might take a decisive turn in the middle-over when Pant comes out to bat.
In such a situation, they might take solace in the fact that both Shaw and Warner have an excellent record against KKR with Shaw recording four fifties in 6 innings he has batted against the two-time champions and all have come in winning cause for his side. On the other hand, among oppositions that Warner has faced since IPL 2017, he has scored the most runs, has averaged the highest, and has the highest SR against KKR. If they stand up to the attack, it will be a worthwhile proposition to belt the cause.
Can Delhi spinners match up to their counterparts in KKR?
In the form of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, KKR have a formidable pair to boss the middle-overs whereas the same can’t be said about the Capitals at the moment. Sure enough, Kuldeep has been excellent for the team from the national capital and has already picked up six wickets in three games at an average of 13.5 but Axar Patel has failed to live up to the billing. Add Shardul Thakur’s failure to that and you have a proper recipe for disaster.
Shardul has the second-worst strike rate for a bowler this season and his economy rate of 10.1 is among the worst as well. That defies belief for how Delhi would skid through, but Anrich Nortke needs to have a big game in order to get the house back in order. The absence of Shreyas Iyer has never been explicitly mentioned but the way he marshaled the bowling unit - of course, he had a better bowling unit at his disposal - but such has been the fate that he would have the steering of the KKR unit on Sunday’s afternoon game. Can Pant’s comrades deliver to keep Iyer’s boys at bay?
With dew not to have any impact in the afternoon game, it is the team that can hold their strings together better that will have the final say.
Probable XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Sam Billings(w), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav, Rasikh Salam, Varun Chakravarthy
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Anrich Nortje