New Delhi: It’s a battle for survival as Delhi Capitals host Kolkata Knight Riders here. Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday night. A win on Friday would keep both sides in play-off contention while a defeat would push them to the brink of elimination. The show features two teams who struggle to decode its high-octane tempo. IPL. However, the mood in the camps of the Capitals and Knight Riders is quite the opposite.Go beyond limits with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!After a bright start to their IPL campaign, the Capitals have lost their way, losing four of their last five games and slipping to seventh in the points table. In fact, they have a very poor record at home, winning just one game (their first match against Mumbai Indians) and losing four. “We have to win four out of four to have a chance to qualify. So it becomes really important,” Capitals middle-order batsman David Miller said.
Knight Riders, on the other hand, have revived their campaign after a poor start and have picked up momentum after picking up a hat-trick of victories in their last three matches this season, although they are still just one place below the Capitals in the IPL standings.Inconsistencies have been the Capitals’ bane and, despite using 20 of the 25 players at their disposal this season, the Axar Patel-led team has struggled to find the right combination.When their batting clicked, the Capitals’ bowling was found ineffective and the batsmen struggled when their bowlers managed to strangle the opposition. Except for the opener KL Rahul – 445 runs in 10 games – and Tristan Stubbs, the rest of the Capitals batsmen failed to deliver. The collapse of the batting in their last two home games will give the team management a lot of headache and they are mulling the possibility of tinkering with their line-up for the game against KKR.“I think with batting, it’s quite clear that we haven’t done very well. We’ve lost wickets in clusters. It puts us in positions where we have to rebuild and then try to get a competitive total,” said Miller, who was dropped from the playing XI for the last two matches.Although their premier pacers Mitchell Starc and Lungi Ngidi combined for the first time in the last game, the attack looked pedestrian against Chennai Super Kings. And if Axar Patel’s slow bowling duo and Kuldeep Yadav Failing to rally and make a dent in the Knight Riders’ batting line-up in the middle overs, the Capitals could push themselves further into the corner.Meanwhile, the Knight Riders have managed to come out of trouble and in the play-offs largely due to the performance of their bowlers.
