Team-wise areas of concern ahead of the second leg of IPL 2021

The current edition of the IPL was going along quite well with half of the tournament already done and as is the case every year, there was some high-quality cricket on display before it was suspended due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

However, it is expected that the 2nd leg of the 14th edition will take place later this year with September being a potential window. Thus, the team managements will have to be ready for a situation where the tournament resumes and they will be analysing their performances in detail to find out their respective weaknesses.

Regardless of where they are positioned, every team will have some or the other weakness that they must iron out if they are to mount a proper title challenge.

On that note, here’s a look at every team’s area of concern ahead of the second leg of IPL 2021:

1. Chennai Super Kings – Death Bowling

After a 7th place finish last season, MS Dhoni’s men would have wanted to bounce back in style and they were doing exactly that with 5 wins from just 7 games. Their batting has been an area of strength for them with the top 3 of Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Moeen Ali delivering on a regular basis.

Even the bowling during the powerplay and middle overs have been good, but one area where they have to improve is their death bowling. While the numbers suggest that they have conceded at less than 10 during the last four overs of an innings, it is a bit misleading. In a few of the games, their bowlers picked up wickets early on in the innings, and thus, opposition teams couldn’t score much during the end, but that isn’t a true reflection of how they bowled during the death.

In their last game against the Mumbai Indians, they had 48 runs to defend in the last three overs but failed to do that as they were smashed to all parts of the ground. Even against SRH, they were very poor during the end as they leaked 50 runs in the last four. Even while defending 75 runs during the last 5 overs with just three wickets in hand for KKR, they still struggled to close out the game with ease as they ended up winning by just 18 runs. Thus, it is clear that it is an area of concern for them and it could hurt them during the playoffs if they don’t get better.