NEW DELHI: Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore are on a good run of form but as the race for the knockout stages heats up, both sides have different motivations ahead of Sunday’s early IPL encounter at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
The home side are third on the table and have 14 points from 11 games while the visitors are in last place with eight points from as many games. With 16 points being the cut-off for achieving a playoff berth, Delhi need to win at least one more to be in the reckoning. Even if RCB win all their remaining matches, they will reach 14 points and it still might not be enough. “The job is only half-done so far. Technically, I think we need to win one more match out of the remaining three, but our aim will be to win at least two matches to make sure we secure the spot. That is the benchmark we have set for ourselves,” DC skipper Shreyas Iyer said.
The good thing for Delhi is that they have overcome their home jinx, having beaten Kings XI Punjab in their last encounter at the same venue. DC have won their last two games on the bounce and play two of their remaining three at home.
The game will also see RCB captain Virat Kohli return to his home town and he will be eager to see his team continue their purple patch. After losing six on the trot at the start, Bangalore have now won four out of their last five ties and more importantly have defended successfully in their last three encounters. And that has given the team extra impetus and all-rounder Washington Sundar feels the team is now playing with more freedom.
“Everybody was hurt. We put too much pressure on ourselves at the start. All the members of the support staff came and told us to just go out and enjoy ourselves. That freedom has allowed players to play with a renewed sense of optimism and the results are showing. We are not thinking about the playoffs and just want to enjoy the moment,” Washington said.
The Kotla pitch has been a huge talking point in this year’s IPL but with Virat Kohli leading from the front and bowling coach Ashish Nehra also hailing from here, the away side are not too perturbed. “That’s a major advantage going into the match. I must also add that the track here is playing quite similar to the Chennai one. A lot of players are aware of the conditions,” Washington added.
The visitors’ struggles have been well documented but Shreyas understands what it feels like to be languishing at the bottom end of the table. “We have been in a similar situation before so we know how it must be like for them. They are underdogs now, because of which they are playing more freely. No one expected us to come this far in just one and a half seasons, but Ricky always says that whenever we step out on the field, we have to keep fighting.”
Advantage MI vs KKR
Kolkata: Mumbai Indians will look to seal a playoff berth when they face an out-of-sorts Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Sunday. Against Kolkata, Mumbai have an 18-5 head-to-head record, including victories in the last eight matches. Also, Kolkata have lost six matches in a row and neither in batting or bowling do they look convincing.