The first team to go out of the reckoning for a place in the playoffs, Delhi Capitals will look for company when it takes on a struggling Punjab Kings twice in the space of five days in their ‘Northern Derby’.
A win for the Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday will end the Kings’ chances of going beyond the league stage.
So far, Kolkata Knight Riders and Capitals are the ones certain of missing the playoffs after suffering seven losses.
In a 10-team league where each team plays 14 times, a minimum of 16 points is considered enough to be in the top-four bracket.
Though this clash involves two sides from the bottom three of the points table, two players with the most fours in IPL - left-handed openers and rival captains Shikhar Dhawan (748) and David Warner (624) - will be around to add to these numbers.
This season, the Capitals have paid heavily for their inconsistency. The non-availability of Rishabh Pant to the lack of batting form has also hurt the team.
As their campaign heads towards the end, the Capitals will rely on four overseas batters at the top of the order and a home-grown bowling unit to stay alive in the race for the playoffs.
But the familiar batting debacle in its previous match – against host Chennai Super Kings – returned to dash their qualifying prospects.
Punjab Kings, too, appears headed for a bottom-half finish on the points table.
Though Dhawan, Jitesh Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh contributed with the bat, the team expected more from Sam Curran, acquired for a bid of Rs. 18.50 crore.
With just 196 runs and seven wickets to show from 11 matches, the England all-rounder has not proved value for money this season.
Among the bowlers, Arshdeep Singh (16 wickets from 11 matches) has had a mixed season.
Despite having bowling options like Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Sikandar Raza, Liam Livingstone and Rishi Dhawan, the team – after winning the first two matches – has, often, failed to strike big when defending totals.
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