Published: May 03, 2013, 12:13 PM (IST)
Edited: May 03, 2013, 12:13 PM (IST)
The Hyderabad venue has been the home side’s fortress this year, as they are yet to concede a game there © IANS
By Prakash Govindasreenivasan
Hyderabad: May 3, 2013
The Sunrisers Hyderabad host the resurgent Delhi Daredevils at a time when the bottom-rung teams’ performance could have an adverse effect on the teams fighting it out for the top four spot.
The Hyderabad side stunned the Mumbai Indians by seven wickets to stay alive in the tournament. They retained their fifth spot but are breathing down the necks of the teams above them as the teams placed at third and fourth spot have same number of points.
In such a scenario, two points against the seventh-placed side Delhi Daredevils is quintessential for Hyderabad’s chances. As for the Delhi Daredevils, it might be a herculean task to win all their remaining matches and make it to the playoffs but they will surely look to ruin the chances of a couple of other teams. Their first assignment to play party spoilers is at Hyderabad. A win over the home side will give them some satisfaction after a disastrous start to the season.
The Hyderabad venue has been the home side’s fortress this year, as they are yet to concede a game there. Kumar Sangakkara showed a glimpse of form with the bat and he will hope to do better against Delhi. Shikhar Dhawan scored his second half-century in only his third match of the IPL this year and will be pivotal to Hyderabad’s batting. On current form, if he gets going, he will carry his bat and take the Sunrisers to a good total. Hyderabad’s bowling department has been onle of the best this season. Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra have all put in match-winning performances on different occasions and have been among the wickets. One can expect Parthiv Patel to replace Akshath Reddy at the top of the order.
As for Delhi, their batting will be the key. Virender Sehwag scored one blistering knock but hasn’t resurfaced since. However, it would be foolish to write him off in this format of the game. Big-hitting Australian David Warner has also been scoring runs and he will be the key. The only change for this team could be for Ben Rohrer who has flown back to Australia to get married. Delhi may bring in Andre Russell into the line-up.
There very little that separates these two sides ahead of their clash as both come into the game with a win in their previous fixture. This game is going to be the clash of the Delhi Daredevils’ batting against the Sunrisers bowling.
Teams:
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Probable): Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel (wk), Kumar Sangakkara (c), Hanuma Vihari, Darren Sammy, Thisara Perera, Karan Sharma, Amit Mishra, Ashish Reddy, Ishant Sharma, Dale Steyn.
Delhi Daredevils (Probable): Mahale Jayawardene (c), Virender Sehwag, Unmukt Chand, David Warner, Andre Russell, Kedar Jadhav, Shabaaz Nadeem, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Ashish Nehra.
Time: 20:00 local (14:30 GMT)
(Prakash Govindasreenivasan is an Editorial consultant at CricketCountry and a sports fanatic, with a soft corner for cricket. After studying journalism for two years, came the first big high in his professional life – the opportunity to interview his hero Adam Gilchrist and talking about his magnificent 149 in the 2007 World Cup final. While not following cricket, he is busy rooting for Chelsea FC)
