Delhi Capitals (DC) face a must-win situation to keep their inconsistent Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign alive against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday, May 5. The 2020 IPL finalists sit on seventh place on the points table with eight points from nine games.
Many of their many players have faltered massively, and none more so than their South African retainee Anrich Nortje. The Proteas' quickie has hardly been used this season, and except Kuldeep Yadav, who has 17 wickets, none of the others have looked menacing. Mustafizur Rahaman has been good in patches but far from his best as was seen during the 2015-18 IPL seasons.
Skipper Rishabh Pant has shown glimpses of his prowess but the team would want more from the skipper, who can hammer any attack into submission. Pant's battle against India's fastest bowler Umran Malik will be a contest to look out for, considering that the Jammu speedster only comes after the powerplay, which could also be the time of the DC skipper's arrival at the crease.
Prithvi Shaw, who started the competition on a bright note, hasn't been in his element in the last few games and his opening partner David Warner would like to convert one of his fifties into a hundred. But it will be easier said than done against an attack that has Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran, T Natarajan, and Marco Jansen who would be coming relentlessly at the DC batting unit to increase their points tally from 10 to 12.
The only good news for the Capitals is Washington Sundar's absence after a recurrence of a hand injury. Jagadeesha Suchith will be bowling his slow left-arm orthodox. DC will however have to concentrate on young opener Abhishek Sharma, who has 324 in nine games at a strike rate of 134.43, who has been consistently giving good starts for SRH.
Skipper Kane Williamson hasn't really set the stage on fire yet and SRH's batting has relied mainly on Abhishek, Aiden Markram (263 in nine games) and Rahul Tripathi (228 in nine games). The first game in which SRH's bowling and batting came under the pump was against CSK when they conceded 200-plus runs in 20 overs and then left too much at the end, with Nicholas Pooran scoring consolation runs.
For DC, Shardul Thakur's medium-fast bowling could test the SRH line-up. His bowling has been a huge let-down for DC, getting only seven wickets from nine games and at a high economy rate of 9.75.
Delhi Capitals
Rishabh Pant (Captain), Ashwin Hebbar, David Warner, Mandeep Singh, Prithvi Shaw, Rovman Powell, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kamlesh Nagarkoti,Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Pravin Dubey, Ripal Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Vicky Ostwal, Yash Dhull, KS Bharat and Tim Seifert.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Kane Williamson, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg, Vishnu Vinod, Glenn Phillips, R Samarth, Shashank Singh, Romario Shepherd, Marco Jansen, J Suchith, Shreyas Gopal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sean Abbott, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Tiwary, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Umran Malik, T Natarajan.
