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After winning their respective last games, last year’s runners-up will be facing up against the inaugural season champions in another crucial game in the UAE leg of the IPL 2021 on September 25.
Both the teams will be heading into the clash with great confidence under their belt. The Capitals more so as they completely dominated Sunrisers Hyderabad in their previous match in Dubai on Wednesday, winning by eight wickets with more than two overs to spare. The victory helped DC reclaim their position at the top of the points table with seven wins and just two losses.
RR could easily have been making a move across to Abu Dhabi with a losing start to the UAE leg if not for young speedster Kartik Tyagi’s final-over brilliance. Needing to defend 4 runs off the last six balls against Punjab Kings in Dubai on Tuesday, the Royals came out triumphant by a margin of 2, thanks to Tyagi’s pinpoint accurate yorkers under pressure. The win has kept RR intact in the playoff race as they are now fifth in the standings with an even record: eight matches, four wins and four losses.
Key Players
Shikhar Dhawan has been a highly improved opening batsman for DC since last year. Dhawan made 618 runs in IPL 2020 at a strike-rate of 144.73 while averaging 44.14. His tournament tally included a couple of brilliant hundreds as the southpaw contributed massively to DC’s surge towards the final. This year as well, the experienced left-hander has been pivotal to his team’s campaign where they are currently at the top of the pile. Dhawan has made 422 runs from his nine innings at an average of 52.75 and strike-rate of 131.87. Dhawan’s knock of 42 off 37 in the win versus SRH gave him the ‘orange cap’ for the season so far.
Prithvi Shaw is only second to Dhawan in the run-charts for DC and has complemented his opening partner magnificently in IPL 2021. His 319 runs from nine innings have come at a strike-rate of 165.28. Shaw has played a selfless aggressor at the top for DC and that, impressively, without compromising much on his consistency. He is averaging 35.44 for the tournament with three half-centuries.
Axar Patel continues to fly under the radar, but the left-arm spinner has been outstanding for DC since last year. Axar took only nine wickets from his 15 matches in IPL 2020 but gave away runs at an economy rate of just 6.41 from 51 overs for the tournament, many of those bowled in the powerplay.
This year, he has been as miserly as ever but has also been rewarded for his unwavering accuracy and consistency a lot more. Axar has now taken eight wickets from his five games of IPL 2021 while going for only 6.65 runs per over.
Sanju Samson needs to come to the party if RR are to keep table-toppers DC at bay. The skipper has been plagued with inconsistency with the bat once again. Since playing a stellar knock of 119 in Mumbai against PBKS earlier this year in RR’s first match, Samson has struck only 162 runs at an average of 23.14 and strike-rate of 122.72.
The last game may have shown that RR can claim victories without Samson contributing significantly, but to really inch closer to the playoffs, they need him to produce the level of consistency befitting his undoubted class and talent.
Kartik Tyagi not only won RR the last game but also ensured he earns himself a run of matches in the first-choice playing XI. The promising young Indian speedster featured in only one encounter of RR’s campaign during the Indian leg. He now has three wickets for the tournament from his two innings with an economy rate of 7.62. Tyagi’s spell of 2/29 versus PBKS, with that excellent finish at the end, should provide a huge boost to his confidence and inspire him to continue producing the goods.
Prediction
The first week of the UAE leg has seen multiple unexpected results, with teams that were considered favourites for the night going on to lose and lose quite badly. These results may make one wary of predicting DC as the likely winner for their encounter against RR despite obviously more strength and depth in every department. However, predictions don’t depend on hindsight but the cricketing merit.
DC should be able to conquer the challenge against RR, having shown for two consecutive seasons of the IPL now what an all-round unit they are developing into. While RR somehow sneaked through to the window that partly PBKS opened for them, DC were in command right through their previous clash with SRH. Expect DC to out-perform another opposition in IPL 2021.
