Indian Premier League 2020: Delhi Capitals looking to seal playoff berth against lackluster SunRisers Hyderabad
After losing two games on the trot, Delhi Capitals will look to book their place in the IPL 2020 playoffs when they take on SunRisers Hyderabad on Tuesday (October 27) at the Dubai International Stadium.
Even though they have lost their last two games, the Capitals are still at the summit of the points table with seven wins from 11 games while SunRisers are virtually out of the competition after managing just 8 points from their 11 games.
The Capitals, along with Mumbai Indians, have looked like the frontrunners of the competition from the onset of the tournament but they need to be vary as the competition marks it’s way into a crucial juncture. Some dismal performances with the bat have handed them two disappointing losses.
Their opener Prithvi Shaw, who had started the tournament in emphatic fashion, has withered away and was even dropped from their last game against KKR. His replacement, Ajinkya Rahane, flattered to deceive by getting out on a first ball duck.
While Shikhar Dhawan has been in rampant form, the lack of support from the other end is now being exploited by the other teams. While they do have some leverage over the other teams because of their brilliant first half of the tournament, they need to ensure that don’t let their grip slip away.
They need to fix their opening blues at the earliest and need to find out the right opening partner for Shikhar Dhawan with Rahane clearly not being the solution.
While they have a lot to dissect if they go about finding the reasons for their losses, the lack of explosive starts in the past few games is also putting unnecessary burden on the shoulders of the middle order, led by their young skipper Shreyas Iyer. The middle order was ripped apart by KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy in their previous game. Chakravarthy finished with tremendous figures of 5-20 as he ran through the Capitals’ batting.
In the bowling department, Kagiso Rabada wears the Purple Cap at the moment with 23 wickets against his name and is perhaps Delhi’s most potent weapon in the armory. He has able support from fellow South African Anrich Nortje, who has set the speed guns on fire in this edition.
However, youngster Tushar Deshpande is leaking runs of late and it remains to be seen whether he gets a nod in this one. The seasoned Ravichandran Ashwin also gave away 45 runs from his three overs as he was taken to the cleaners by Sunil Narine in the last game.
The need of the hour for Delhi Capitals is to pull up their socks once again and not get complacent, even against a feeble opposition like SunRisers.
SunRisers will be disappointed with their performance and have nothing but pride to play for. They have been blighted by injuries to key players and never really recovered from that hurdle. They have lost four of their past five games with their loss against KXIP from a winning position – being the final nail in the coffin.
Chasing just 127 to win, SRH’s batting frailties cost them the match once again with the side getting bowled out for just 114 in a must win game. Their lack of depth in batting was the biggest chink in the armory and was highlighted once again.
So it all boils down to this – match number 47 of IPL 2020 where SunRisers will give their all while Delhi Capitals would look to be the first team to book their place in the playoffs.
