Physio positive, Delhi players confined to rooms before RCB tie
Two wins from four matches don't make for a bad report card, but Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant and coach Ricky Ponting will know they are far from an ideal start.
Now they have other troubles too. Just as the team was looking to get into the groove ahead of Saturday's match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, each member was confined to their rooms on Friday after physio Patrick Farhart tested positive for Covid-19.
Ponting and Pant will be keeping their fingers crossed and hope nobody else returns positive on Saturday. It will be a few anxious hours for the team, which is still seeking its perfect combination.
Three weeks into the tournament, this is where teams pull away from the rest or lag behind. The points table is dynamic. RCB, forever inconsistent, will not want to take it to the last two league games to fight for one spot in the top four.
Interestingly, Capitals and RCB have been facing similar problems. The big-ticket players from either side are yet to find their zone. If Capitals are yearning for Pant to go big and kill games, RCB are also waiting for Kohli to assert himself.
The top order of both teams has looked equally vulnerable. Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur have had to do the heavy lifting for Capitals. Similarly, Shahbaz Ahmed and Dinesh Karthik have been in pressure situations for RCB.
Capitals will hope openers Prithvi Shaw and David Warner build on their form. Harshal Patel, RCB's trump card in the death overs, is likely to be back after attending his sister's last rites. The lower middle-order won't have it easy if Patel is around.
