Hyderabad: Their first win secured, Delhi Capitals would expect more from their batters when they take on a stuttering Sunrisers Hyderabad, who will be eager to return to winning ways, in the IPL here Monday.
The Capitals have had a tough season so far. They have struggled in all departments and, as a result, lost five games on the trot.
However, David Warner and his troops finally managed to eke out their maiden victory as they scrapped their way to a four-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders Thursday.
The bowling unit got its act together and put up a stellar display to restrict KKR to 127 but the Delhi batters, barring skipper Warner and deputy Axar Patel, failed once again as the hosts huffed and puffed to the win.
Much was expected of Prithvi Shaw and Mitchell Marsh but the two have been huge letdowns so far this season.
Scores of 12, 7, 0, 15, 0 and 13, in the six outings have highlighted Shaw’s inability to tackle pace and spin, and a quick-fix is unlikely.
Australian all-rounder Marsh has also had a woeful run with the bat, that includes two ducks in the four games and a high score of four. He hasn’t fared well with the ball either, and it is to be seen if the management persists with him or the likes of Rovman Powell and Rilee Rossouw are given another chance.
With the young Indian batters struggling, the onus is also on Manish Pandey, a seasoned campaigner, to bat more responsibly in the middle so that Axar has the freedom to play the big shots towards the end.
While the Capitals have a lot of work to do, there are a few positives they can build upon.
Playing his first game of the season, veteran Ishant Sharma bowled a brilliant spell, turning back time. He bowled with accuracy and produced inward movement to fashion the team’s first win.
Ishant was complemented well by the rest of the Delhi bowlers, who had been underwhelming so far.
Under the scanner for his below-par strike rate, skipper Warner also looked at his fluent best against KKR. He will hope to continue in similar vein against his former team, come Monday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have slumped to back-to-back defeats after it seemed their campaign had taken off. They currently occupy the penultimate spot on the table with four points from six games.
The Orange Army has looked good on paper but their batting has failed them. Their batters have neither been able to chase nor put up a good total in the previous two games they lost.
With plenty of match winners in the side, they would hope to get their campaign back on track.
Squads (from):
Delhi Capitals: David Warner (c), Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Hakim Khan, Abhishek Porel (wk), Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Rovman Powell, Rilee Rossouw, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahaman, Chetan Sakariya, Mukesh Kumar, Phil Salt, Lungi Ngidi, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vicky Ostwal, Ishant Sharma, Manish Pandey, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Yash Dhull.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Aiden Markram (c), Abdul Samad, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kartik Tyagi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas, Sanvir Singh, Upendra Yadav, Mayank Dagar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akeal Hosein, Anmolpreet Singh.
Match starts: 7:30pm IST.
PTI