IPL-5 Little separates top two

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So here we are. After a whopping 72 matches squeezed in space of seven weeks, it all boils downs to the next few days where endurance and patience will count as much as skill, if not more, for the four sides who’ve made it to the play-offs.

The is the stage where teams starts to creak and groan under the weight of the cricket they’re playing, and one slip as a result of it, can cost them nearly two months of hard work.

Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders will therefore take some solace from the fact that they’ll still have another chance to make it to the final, even if they fluff up in the first qualifier here on Tuesday.

Delhi and Kolkata finished the league phase placed number one and two respectively in the points table, and if either of the side lose here, they’ll have to make an early trip to Chennai to play the winner of the Chennai Super Kings—Mumbai Indians face-off in the second qualifier.

Neither of them will prefer to take the long route, especially Virender Sehwag’s men. They’ve lost only five matches this season —one of which to the Knight Riders —and have been invincible during certain phases of the tournament.

The reason behind their consistent run this season has been their reduced dependence on Sehwag, who had earlier been the only performing bat.

While he expectedly leads the batting chart for his side with 484 runs from 14 matches, there have been supplementary efforts from Kevin Pietersen (305 runs, 8 matches), David Warner (246, 6 matches) and Mahela Jaywardene (240, 14 matches).

The fact that Warner is still relatively fresh and that Sehwag will make a come back after a week-long break could be their biggest advantage.

In contrast, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ batting has been a one-man show, with Gautam Gambhir making six fifties thus far while the rest of his teammates have put together just three.

But other batsmen’s poor show has been made up by the 23-year-old Trinidadian offie Sunil Narine, who has rarely been picked by any batsmen.