Chennai: A buoyant Delhi Capitals (DC), who are third in the points table, will face SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), who are in the bottom half of the table, in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here Sunday night.
While DC are coming into this match on the back of two successive victories, over Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, their opponents SRH managed to get their first win of the season when they defeated Punjab Kings in their last match on Wednesday. SRH are sixth in the IPL points table.
DC remain favourites with their all-round side. Their batting has looked solid with opener Shikhar Dhawan leading the run-getters’ list and the race for Orange Cap. Aussie batsman Steve Smith also looked good in the last game against Mumbai Indians (MI).
Their bowling too has been good too with the presence of internationals Kagiso Rabada and R Ashwin. Though it is young Madhya Pradesh pace bowler Avesh Khan, who has emerged as their top wicket taker. The right-armer has eight wickets this season and is fourth on the list of contenders for Purple Cap given to season’s top wicket taker.
DC also saw the return of leg-spinner Amit Mishra in the last match. Mishra took four wickets to restrict MI to a low total. The former India player, returning this season after injury ruled him out of the major part of the last season, was adjudged man of the match for his bowling performance in DC’s win over MI.
SRH, who began with three losses partly due to the failure of their middle-order, saw the return of Kane Williamson in the last match. On a spin-friendly Chennai wicket and against the likes of Mishra and Ashwin, his batting will hold key if SRH are to put up a big total or chase one. SRH’s bowling though has looked impressive despite the loss of India pacer T Natarajan who has been ruled out due to injury.
Squads:
SunRisers Hyderabad: David Warner (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Abdul Samad, Jason Roy, Jason Holder, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb ur Rehman, J Suchith.
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (captain/wicketkeeper), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Sam Billings, Shimron Hetmyer, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Umesh Yadav, Tom Curran, Avesh Khan, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Ripal Patel, Lukman Hussain Meriwala, M Siddharth, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Woakes, Vishnu Vinod (wicketkeeper), Aditya Tare (wicketkeeper).
Match starts at 7.30 pm.
IANS