The 64th match of the ongoing IPL 2022 between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings will be a crucial one as whoever wins this game will get an inch closer to reaching the top-4 position.
As per the rule of the league, the top-4 teams at the end of the league stage will qualify for the next stage, playoffs, where the top-2 teams play a qualifier and the team who wins the qualifier will advance to the finals directly.
The 3rd and 4th number teams will play the eliminator match, and the winner of the team this match will face the loser team of qualifier 1 in qualifier 2, and whosoever wins from them play the finals.
Gujarat Titans decoded this very early and now comfortably settled at the top of the table and will finish the league stage at first position.
While there are seven teams in the race to secure three left tickets to the playoffs, with both Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants have a better chances to secure 2 places, as both the teams are at 16 points with one match to play.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are currently standing on 4th place, but if Delhi (12 points) wins today’s game against Punjab Kings they will dethrone the Bangalore side from fourth spot as they have much better run-rate than FAF’s side.
However, it’s a tough job as the Punjab side are also strong and they coming in this match with positivity as they have defeated the RCB in their last game by 54 runs.
Still there are chances that Delhi might beat Punjab side because of Punjab’s a little weak bowling line-up, though the Punjab bowlers did brilliant job against RCB to restrict them at 154 and earn 2 points for their team. But, one cannot expect the same charisma from them if we go by complete IPL 2022 stats.
As far as both teams previous records are concerned, then the Punjab team have won 15 out of 29, and similarly Delhi won 14.
When both teams last met in this season, the Delhi Capitals defeated them very comfortably. First Delhi bowlers stopped them at just 115 runs. Later, the destructive pair Prithivi Shaw and David Warner gave Delhi a flying start, Mitchell too joined the party when Shaw dismissed and Delhi won the game by 9 wicket with 57 balls still remaining.
Both teams are currently on 12 points and look to win this match at any cost. However, Delhi have a better run-rate than Punjab and a win in this match will double their chances to qualify for the playoffs.
The next thing they need to do after winning this match is to win their last league game against Mumbai Indians on May 21 to confirm their ticket to IPL 2022 playoffs.
