Kolkata Knight Riders’ eight-wicket win against Delhi Capitals in Delhi on Friday night was the team’s fourth consecutive victory of this IPL season. The Ajinkya Rahane-led side had lost five of their first six matches and had just one point after their sixth game. Since then, the Kolkata franchise has accumulated eight more points and currently sits in seventh place on the points table. With four matches remaining, three of them at home in Kolkata, former Indian wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta believes the team’s march to the playoffs is very much on. He added that spinners like Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine will play a huge role in shaping their chances.
“It’s on. A couple of things. One is obviously that in the first half of the season, Varun (Chakravarthy) did not have a good start. So they depend a lot on those two bowlers, Varun and Sunil (Narine), for eight overs. And now in the second half, a lot of these pitches and venues, having been used so far, are getting a little tired. The spinners’ role becomes much more important. The way they are set up and how they play, I think it’s always going to be the second half of the tournament where they will do much better than the first half. And the fact that someone like Varun is back to form and close to his best, all of that helps,” Dasgupta said while speaking to ESPNcricinfo.
KKR will next face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Raipur on May 13, followed by a match against Gujarat Titans at Eden Gardens on May 16. They will then take on Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens on May 20 before their final league match against Delhi Capitals, also at Eden Gardens, on May 23. With the possibility of winning three or even all four of those matches, and with Punjab Kings currently on 13 points after ten games, KKR could end up on 17 points, level with Punjab Kings if other results go their way. Former New Zealand pacer Mitchell McClenaghan sees this as a real possibility and stressed the importance of the next two games for KKR.
“Those next two games are the most important, aren’t they? You’ve got RCB and GT. So those two are going to be critical, because those are the other teams that are realistically in the running. If you can get above them and if you see Punjab continue to slide down, then you just have to make sure you win a couple of games convincingly. Because you could end up in a situation where you’re going for that final spot against Punjab Kings on that odd number,” McClenaghan said on the same show.
After the win over Delhi Capitals on Friday, skipper Ajinkya Rahane was also asked about the team’s playoff chances. He reiterated that the team is taking it one game at a time.
“One game at a time,” Rahane said at the end of the post-match presentation.
