IPL 2020, KKR vs DC Preview: Iyer & Co look to seal play-off berth against battered Knights

Delhi Capitals have had a great season so far but a couple of injuries led to a change in the balance of the side and since then, the team has not been as fluent as they have been otherwise. Having lost two of their last four matches, including the previous encounter against Kings XI Punjab, DC are in familiar territory yet again. Last season the Capitals finished third on the points table as three teams were tied on the same points. As a result they had just one shot at the finals which they lost.

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Ricky Ponting would know the pitfalls of not finishing the league stage strongly and that is the reason why he must rally his team to win as many of their remaining 4 matches as possible. On Saturday they play a battered and bruised Kolkata Knight Riders in a day match, which could be the ideal opportunity for Shreyas Iyer and his men to seal a play-off berth. KKR have lost three of their last four matches, including a demoralising loss to RCB where the team managed just 84 runs in 20 overs.

The KKR top order is in tatters currently and the likes of Rabada and Nortje should make the most of the opportunity. Delhi have got their own set of batting worries, but they don’t have much to fear about as no one apart from Lockie Ferguson is in form.

Pat Cummins has been a colossal disappointment for KKR as a bowler and the team should look beyond him if they want to rejig the team as they too fight to get closer to a qualification spot.

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Shikhar Dhawan’s newfound cavalier batting form is great news but DC would want the likes of Shaw, Iyer and Pant to get back to scoring runs at a fast click for the team. Stoinis and Hetmyer need to produce the big hits at the end although their job will get tougher by the day as the pitches get slow, hence a set top order batsman should ideally provide the final flourish.

There isn’t any news yet on Andre Russell’s fitness and if he misses out then KKR should look to bring Sunil Narine back in the playing XI.

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DC definitely look better on paper given the form of their batsmen and bowlers but KKR have the players who can dig deep and come up with match winning performances.

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