Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Punjab Kings are on a six-match unbeaten streak — five wins and a no result — in the ongoing IPL. Two more wins would equal their best-ever run from 13 years ago. Their next opponents, Delhi Capitals, are on the opposite end of the momentum scale.With three wins in six played and three losses in the last four, DC are sixth in the IPL standings. The only win in the last two weeks was a penultimate-ball win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Bengaluru.The next two weeks could make or break the Delhi Capitals campaign with four of the next five games at home. The only road game during this period is against the Rajasthan Royals.
In the two home games DC has played so far, they beat Mumbai Indians by 6 wickets in one and lost by 1 run to Gujarat Titans in the other, a contest that went down to the last ball.That inability to chase down 211 runs is part of DC’s problems this year. They are yet to eclipse a 200-plus-run target this season and and have fallen short in 8 of 10 attempts since 2024.“It has seemed worse because we have been chasing every game. The other day we lost three wickets in an over and we didn’t bat very well. We still made 190 something,” said DC’s Tristan Stubbs on the eve of the day clash against PBKS at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.“Yes, we haven’t had the perfect innings, but on a bad day we have won three out of six. Even when we have lost, we have still scored 190.”“We know there are a couple of small moments here and there in the games. We are scoring these big scores. We are not too worried,” he continued.The challenge persists in the lack of clarity regarding first-choice options. Pathum Nissanka has had three rapid knocks of 40-plus at the top of the batting order for the franchise while also registering scores of 1, 1 and 8 to offset that impact.No. 3 spot has been the most ‘adventurous’. Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi and Karun Nair have all been tried with the final output reading 88 runs at an average of 14.66. Rana was even dropped for poor returns before scoring 57 against SRH in the last match.Sameer Rizvi started well, helping the team with two consecutive Player of the Match performances but things have dried down since. His contributions in the last four outings have been 0, 6, 2, and 41.The uncertainty is also true in the bowling department. In the absence of Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi and Mukesh Kumar have carried the responsibility in the seam bowling department. However, the spinners haven’t joined the party.Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel have combined for 11 wickets this season while conceding 341 runs in 38 overs at an economy of nearly 9 an over. As SRH piled up 242, they bowled just two overs each while Nitish Rana completed his quota of overs.With the key stretch ahead and Starc set to join next week, this is an important contest for the franchise to figure out its best combination — which so far seems unclear.
