Russell, Narine, 84 for 8 - Kolkata Knight Riders are in a hole, and Delhi Capitals will look to keep them there
The Capitals won their earlier exchange, and are the table-toppers at this stage
Karthik Krishnaswamy
23-Oct-2020
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The Kolkata Knight Riders probably had no business winning any of those games, but win is what they did. They have only won two other games so far this season, and if those jailbreaks were taken away from them, they wouldn't be where they are on the table.
Where they are is fourth, and within the playoffs' range, but that can change quickly. There are teams currently outside the top four who have built a bit of momentum, and they know they can displace the Knight Riders, who have a distinct air of vulnerability about them after suffering a walloping at the hands of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. That defeat left the Knight Riders nursing the worst net run rate (-0.828) of all teams in the competition.
How do you bounce back from the lows of 84 for 8? How do you do that without Andre Russell or Sunil Narine, or possibly both? How do you begin the process of bouncing back when you're up against the in-form Delhi Capitals, who are gunning for a top-two finish and are themselves looking to bounce back from - a less severe but still wounding - defeat?
There aren't easy answers to these, but the Knight Riders will have to answer them soon. If they do, you might come to talk in hushed tones about those wins snatched from the jaws of defeat. "It's the sign of a great team," you might say, "when they win even when they aren't playing well."
If the Knight Riders slide away from the playoffs spots, however, you will look at those wins differently. You will look at them and say they were warning signs of a team in decline.
In the news
Russell injured his hamstring in the tied game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and didn't feature against the Royal Challengers. Narine was free to play that game, having had his action cleared, but he missed out because of what his captain Eoin Morgan described as a "niggle". The fitness status of the two West Indians ahead of the game against the Capitals is not yet clear.
Previous meeting
Half-centuries from Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant powered the Capitals to 228, but that total didn't appear entirely safe in early-season Sharjah. Despite slipping to 122 for 6, the Knight Riders still came close in their chase, thanks to Morgan's 18-ball 44 and Rahul Tripathi's 16-ball 36. It came down to 26 from the last over, and Marcus Stoinis sealed victory for the Capitals with a pinpoint yorker to bowl Tripathi.
Likely XIs
Delhi Capitals: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje/Daniel Sams, 11 Tushar Deshpande
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Rahul Tripathi, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Andre Russell/Tom Banton, 7 Pat Cummins/Sunil Narine, 8 Lockie Ferguson, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Kuldeep Yadav
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Stats that matter
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo