IPL 2021: "Delhi Capitals' biggest strength lies in their bowling" - Gautam Gambhir
Former Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Gautam Gambhir has highly praised DC's productive bowling unit this season. He feels that the biggest strength of the Delhi Capitals lies in their bowlers.
DC have the luxury of having different varieties of bowlers in their ranks. The South African duo of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada have relentless pace and add international pedigree to the side. Avesh Khan, one of the best bowlers of the season, has shown maturity with his 22 wickets in the league phase of the tournament.
The two spinners in Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin have complimented their pace battery exceptionally well and have been economical throughout the competition.
While previewing today's high-octane clash between DC and Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1 of the IPL 2021 on ESPNcricinfo, Gambhir Gambhir commended the former's prolific bowling unit.
"Delhi Capitals' biggest strength lies in their bowling unit. They only play with five bowling options and still manage to restrict opposition to below par scores. 3 world class pacers and 2 international spinners have been phenomenal for them throughout the tournament."
It will be interesting to witness the match-up between one of the tournament's best bowling units and the two in-form CSK openers in Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis.
"Head-to-head records don't matter in these qualifiers" - Gautam Gambhir
Although the Ricky Ponting-coached side have defeated CSK in their previous four encounters, Gambhir opined that both sides would be under the same amount of pressure today.
The 39-year-old stated that past head-to-head records don't matter when it comes to high-pressure knockout games.
Gambhir also mentioned that a few bad overs from either side could shatter their chances of winning the match.
"Head to head records don't matter in these qualifiers," Gambhir said. "The only thing that matters is that this is the playoffs. Each team is under the same amount of pressure. A couple of bad overs can break your chances of winning, so both CSK and DC will have equal amount of pressure."
Both the Delhi Capitals and the Chennai Super Kings head into the clash with defeats in their last matches. It will be interesting to see which wicket-keeper captain comes out on top - MS Dhoni or Rishabh Pant.