The start that Delhi Capitals have had in this IPL has been forgetful.

On paper, the David Warner-led side doesn’t appear to be such a soft target to lose all of their first five games. But now that they are at rock bottom and face an early elimination from the playoffs race, one might as well feel Kolkata Knight Riders — the Capitals’ opponents at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi on Thursday — have an excellent chance to add to their points tally.

The real picture, though, suggests that the Knight Riders need to be on their toes to win at the Kotla as they too go into the game with back-to-back defeats. So by no means can the Knight Riders take it easy against the Capitals. And the more worrying part for Nitish Rana and his teammates is their bowlers’ failure to deliver in both of these losses.

The Knight Riders consider their spin attack to be the strongest part of their bowling. But barring 19-year-old Suyash Sharma, both Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy looked far from penetrative in the last two games, against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians.

None can deny Narine’s contribution to the Knight Riders, being one of the most successful cricketers of the franchise for more than a decade. But with the quicks in their line-up still yet to fire, the Knights need Narine to take wickets as well and not just check the run flow.

In the current scenario, captain Rana and head coach Chandrakant Pandit need to be a little bit stern with the duo if they are unable to deliver on Thursday. Besides, with the in-form Venkatesh Iyer ready to bowl, the team management can certainly think of utilising him as a bowler too and not just rely on his batting skills.

Batting-wise, alongside Iyer, the rhythm of the skipper and Rinku Singh also augur well for the Knights. But it’s time they have a relook at their top order, especially when Jason Roy and Litton Das — both better batters than Afghan Rahmanullah Gurbaz — are there at their disposal.