IPL 2020: 3 concerns for the Delhi Capitals before their last league game
The ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) has certainly lived up to all the hype and expectation of millions of fans all over the world.
Such has been the aura of the sport that even in this unprecedented chaos when the country is slowly crawling back to normalcy, the tournament has provided the people with plenty of reasons to celebrate.
Despite the lack of crowds, the games have gone down to the wire keeping the fans glued to their television sets rooting for their favourite team.
And, as we head into the penultimate clash of the league phase between the Delhi Capitals and the Royal Challengers from Bangalore, we take a look at the possible concerns in the DC camp ahead of their much-awaited clash.
The Capitals dominated in the first half of the tournament after starting with a thrilling win over the Kings XI Punjab, courtesy a Super Over. With five wins in their first seven games, the boys from Delhi looked like one of the firm favourites to lift the coveted trophy.
However, things have not gone to plan for them in the business end of the league, as they suffered heavy defeats in the last four encounters. With a place in the playoffs at stake, the team lead by a young captain in Shreyas Iyer has a lot to ponder as they lock horns with RCB.
Here are three major concerns for the Delhi Capitals think tank:
1. Prithvi Shaw's lack of runs
The tournament has been a real nightmare for young batting sensation Prithvi Shaw as he is struggling to find form and score some much-needed runs for the team. In the 11 matches, he has managed to score just 219 runs with the highest score of 66 against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the early phase of the league.
After a couple of impressive knocks at the beginning of the competition, Shaw has failed to live up to expectations. His poor run of form has resulted in the team consistently failing to stitch a decent opening partnership, adding enormous pressure on the middle order.
The right-handed batsman has been guilty of playing fancy strokes early on in his innings leading to his downfall.
2. Struggling for firepower in the middle order
The batting unit of the Capitals has looked completely lacklustre in the past couple of matches. The opening partnership has failed to lay a solid foundation for the middle order to attack in the final few overs of the innings, resulting in below-par scores for the team.
Shreyas Iyer, along with experienced southpaw Shikhar Dhawan, have been the mainstays of the DC batting unit. The duo, however, have lacked support from overseas players in Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer to guide the team over the finish line.
Another area of concern is the fact that Rishabh Pant has failed to set the tournament ablaze with his explosive knocks. The wicket-keeper batsman is one of the hardest strikers of the cricket ball, and his string of low scores is surely hurting the team.
3. Over dependency on Kagiso Rabada
Kagiso Rabada is currently one of the best bowlers operating in world cricket. With a wealth of experience on the international circuit, he is the leader of the pack in the bowling department.
The right-arm pacer has been in tremendous form with 23 wickets in 13 matches, at an average of 18.04, in the tournament. He is currently second in the list of most wickets taken behind Jasprit Bumrah.
However, he has struggled in the past couple of games, leaking runs with the new ball as well as at the back end of the innings. The bowling unit is heavily reliant on Rabada to scalp wickets early in the innings to put pressure on the opposition.
With wickets hard to come by in the powerplay from their premier spearhead, the other bowlers too have failed to keep the run rate in check. This has resulted in the opposition either piling up huge scores or chasing down their target with ease.