Punjab and Delhi tussle as the fate of playoffs hangs in balance

In what can be a play-off shaping encounter, Monday will witness a crucial contest between the Delhi Capitals and the Punjab Kings. With the fate of the table hanging in fine balance, whoever wins on the night, will have their play-offs fate firmly in their hands heading into the final round of the IPL league stages.

Delhi turned the tide around in clinical fashion as they breezed past the likes of the Rajasthan Royals in their previous fixture with consummate ease. Their much-talked-about batting line-up fired on the occasion when it needed to, as they chased down 160 with eight wickets and 11 balls to spare. Their bowlers pulled off a pretty decent job of restricting the high-flying batting order of the Royals within just 160.

Punjab will be coming to this battle on the back of an emphatic win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the preceding encounter as they posted an all-round display. However, if there has been a recurring motif in the way Punjab has delivered, inconsistency has been predominant. However, in a game of cricket, if there has been one thing that we have always known, the game is always unpredictable.

Venue Watch:

The surface at Navi Mumbai has always been a blessing to the batters with a pint of early help for the pacers as the ball would be drifting in the wee overs of the game. The average score on the surface batting first in the ongoing edition of the tournament is 165 which signifies the decent batting surface that this has been. There will be some green on the surface too that will give the bowlers something to vie for. The last game played in the stadium witnessed Kolkata Knight Riders taking on the Mumbai Indians in a modest-scoring affair where their bowlers successfully defended 165.

Ideal result for RCB:

Both the teams are sitting on 12 points at the moment from 12 games and whoever wins will go on to amass 14 points. If we take a look at the net-run rate of the sides, there is only one conclusion that can favor RCB until the rain gods make an unlikely appearance. Whichever team wins today should be on the losing side in their final league game for RCB to qualify for the play-offs.

Squads:

Delhi Capitals:

Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman, Kuldeep Yadav, Ashwin Hebbar, Abhishek Sharma, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, KS Bharat, Mandeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Yash Dhull, Rovman Powell, Pravin Dubey, Lungi Ngidi, Vicky Ostwal, Sarfaraz Khan.

Punjab Kings:

Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Odean Smith, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Sandeep Sharma, Atharva Taide, Vaibhav Arora, Ansh Patel, Raj Angad Bawa, Benny Howell, Rishi Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (wk), Baltej Singh, Writtick Chatterjee, Nathan Ellis, Prerak Mankad.

Match Details:

Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals

Venue: Dr. DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

Date: 16th May 2022

Time: 7:30 PM IST