Published: May 02, 2015, 12:12 PM (IST)
Edited: May 02, 2015, 12:12 PM (IST)
By SS Ramaswamy
Mumbai: A resurgent Delhi Daredevils (DD), who have risen up the league table after an inconsistence show in the early phase, will look to build a winning momentum when they take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 match at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday. Sanju Samson blames his dismissal for Rajasthan Royals’ defeat to Mumbai Indians
Daredevils drubbed Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by nine wickets by riding on a splendid bowling display by comeback pacer Zaheer Khan and the tall Nathan Coulter-Nile at Feroz Shah Kotla on Friday. MI win tense clash against RR by eight runs in Match 32 of IPL 2015
Rajasthan, on the other hand, slumped to their third loss in their last five games (including two rain wash out matches) with a eight-run defeat against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday night. IPL 2015: Sanjay Bangar takes blame for Kings XI Punjab’s poor show
Fortunes seemed to have shifted on the positive side for Delhi, who are now at fourth position with their fourth win from eight games, after arresting their nine-match losing streak in the tournament history at the Feroz Shah Kotla against Mumbai on April 23.
They bounced back in style on Friday to demolish KXIP after suffering a humiliating nine-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the previous away game on April 29. Zaheer Khan believes that he will get better as bowls in more competitive matches
Key batsmen in Mumbai-born lad Shreyas Iyer (281 runs) and Karnataka Ranji cricketer Mayank Agarwal (202 runs) showed good nick with individual half centuries while opening the innings against KXIP to ensure that their brilliant bowling display did not go waste.
Fast bowlers Nathan Coulter-Nile (4 wickets) and Zaheer (2 wickets), who played his first competitive game in any format after a year’s absence, had laid the platform for the convincing win by restricting the strong Punjab batting line-up at a mere 118 for eight.
With skipper Jean-Paul Duminy also in good nick with the bat (220 runs) and with his accurate off-spin bowling (8 wickets), the Daredevils have most bases covered though there is a worry over the lack of runs from Yuvraj Singh (124 runs in 7 innings).
The leg spin twins of Amit Mishra (8 wickets) and South African Imran Tahir (13 wickets) may provide the Daredevils with the cutting edge if the track at the Cricket Club of India, Rajasthan’s second home venue of the season after Ahmedabad, offers some turn.
Daredevils, thus, appear to hold some aces up their sleeves to avenge their defeat against Rajasthan who had won the first leg match in Delhi by three wickets on April 12.
Rajasthan, on the other hand, have had a dismal run after the Super-Over loss to KXIP in Ahmedabad on April 21 which ended their brilliant five-match initial winning phase.
Two subsequent away games — against Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore — were rain-hit that forced them to share points as well as upset their rhythm.
They would hope that a change of home venue from Ahmedabad, where they had lost back-to-back games against KXIP and RCB before the wash-outs, will turn the tide in their favour.
They depend a lot on opener and man-in-form Ajinkya Rahane in batting with captain Shane Watson and his Australian teammate Steve Smith to follow. All three failed to fire yesterday against Mumbai but to their good fortune Sanju Samson found timely form with a brilliant knock of 76 to bring them on the doors of victory before losing the match.
In bowling, the recall of Tim Southee for Colin Morris for the last two games, and the inclusion for the first time in the season of Rusty Theron have not really spurred them to a better display.
With Watson and Stuart Binny not performing to their potential in the all-rounder’s roles, Rajasthan have some thinking to do to get their floundering campaign back on track as they have only four games remaining in the round-robin phase to nail one of the four play-off spots.
They remained in second spot after leaders Chennai Super Kings and a win over the Daredevils would be a shot-in-the-arm for Rajasthan.
