All or nothing for Delhi and Kolkata

IPL STROKES

PRANAV MEHTA

Chennai Super Kings have already qualified for the finals and they will be sitting tight and watching the qualifier where Delhi Capitals will be clashing against the two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders. Delhi have dominated the 2021 Indian Premier League, which is indicated by points table, at the end of the league stage. On the other hand, Kolkata have had a dream run in the UAE leg. Only Chennai and Punjab Kings have been able to get past them, from the 8 games that they have played in the UAE.

The UAE pitches have been slow generally and have assisted spinners. Stroke play hasn’t been that easy and Kolkata have majorly benefited from the quality and mystery of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine. With the addition of Shakib Ul Hassan, scoring runs have got even more tougher for oppositions.

Delhi also have the quality of Ravichandra Ashwin and Axar Patel, but they have mainly banked on their high quality pace attack of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada. Even Avesh Khan has enjoyed their company and provided match winning performance. This assures that, both teams have their own strategies, but they have massively focused on their own strengths, to obtain the desired results.

MISSING THE TRICK

Delhi Capitals fans believe that Delhi should have been the first team to reach the final. Rishabh Pant missed the trick by bowling Tom Curran the final over against Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the first qualifier. With the availability of a specialist death over bowler in Kagiso Rabada, Pant should have never gone to Curran, whose lack of pace suited the out of form Dhoni, who has struggled to score for a very long time. Delhi have a very balanced line-up, but it needs one of their champion player to produce a big match winning knock.

ON THIN ICE

Kolkata have been on thin ice for so long, that they have got used to this situation and it’s just another game for them. At the start of the UAE leg, Kolkata needed to win 6 out of 7 games to qualify, making almost every game a must win. Eventually they qualified by winning 5 games with healthy margins. This difficult situation has brought the best out of them and now they absolutely thrive in this intense must-win situation. Although Eoin Morgan’s form might be a worrying factor, but every player has stood up in Morgan’s leadership and the Kolkata’s management would surely believe that Morgan is a big match player and he would surely shine in difficult situations, irrespective of it being true or not.

BETTER CHANCE FOR CHASING TEAM

The match is in Sharjah, where the wicket has been very difficult. The team that chases would have a higher chance of winning. In the last game, RCB were 102/3 in 14 overs and could manage only 36 runs in the last 6 overs, which completely changed the momentum of the game. Even Kolkata were seen struggling and if it was not for Sunil Narine’s heroics with the bat, Bangalore could have still grasped the low-scoring encounter. Delhi have to be considering to bring in the experienced Amit Mishra or maybe even off-spinner Lalit Yadav, considering the number of lefty batsman in Kolkata. With the kind of cricket Kolkata has been playing, one has to be looking to support them, just hope that they haven’t run out of gas too soon!