IPL 9: Delhi Daredevils face table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad in must-win clash
It’s been quite a season for Delhi Daredevils . After overhauling their squad, under the leadership of two former international stalwarts, they have emerged as one of the strongest sides. They spent some time in the top-four of the points table after a strong start but a string of losses has pushed them down to the bottom half and they now occupy the sixth spot.
Their hopes of making it to the playoffs now depend on how they fare in their remaining two matches. Besides winning both their final two fixtures (vs Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore), they also need to improve their net run-rate in case there is a tie in terms of points. At their new home – Raipur – they first face table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad who need to win either of their final two matches to confirm a top-four spot.
Zaheer Khan has been praised for his captaincy for the majority of the season. But DD have now suffered four defeats in their last five matches and need to return to their early season form which saw them winning five of their first seven matches. Unlike SRH, they don’t have a settled squad which might have contributed to their inconsistency. SRH have no such dilemma though they have copped a significant blow as injury has ended one of their lead bowlers’ ( Ashish Nehra ) season. But the David Warner-led can still dig into their resources for a replacement even though the experience that Nehra brings with him will be missed.
Date: May 20, 2016
Time: 20:00 (IST)
Venue: Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur
Weather: Cloudy day with temperature touching a high of 40°C
Team News
Delhi Daredevils
Shreyas Iyer returned to the playing XI against Rising Pune Supergiants but failed yet again. His replacement Mayank Agarwal hasn’t fared any better. Considering how much DD have tweaked their playing XI this season, young Akhil Herwadkar might make his IPL debut. But will the team management be willing to take a gamble at such a crucial juncture?
Probable XI: 1 Quinton de Kock 2 Mayank Agarwal/Akhil Herwadkar, 3 Karun Nair , 4 Sanju Samson , 5 Rishabh Pant, 6 JP Duminy , 7 Chris Morris, 8 Amit Mishra , 9 Zaheer Khan , 10 Nathan Coulter-Nile , 11 Mohammed Shami.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Injury to Nehra has come at the wrong time. He has nine wickets from eight matches this season and was one of their key performers. But Warner has options in Barinder Sran and Abhimanyu Mithun and the former is more likely to return to the playing XI in place of Nehra.
Probable XI: 1 David Warner , 2 Shikhar Dhawan , 3 Deepak Hooda, 4 Yuvraj Singh , 5 Ben Cutting, 6 Naman Ojha, 7 Moises Henriques , 8 Karn Sharma, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar , 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Barinder Sran
NEW DELHI: Two-time national award winner for best actress Kangana Ranaut, cricketers Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan, playback singer Suman Read more
The smiling assassin will no longer be seen in first class cricket. Lakshmipathy Balaji has decided to call time on Read more
Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday minced no words as he analyzed his side's execution against the Kolkata Read more
Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli on Thursday said a similar two-three players can't win amusements for the group coordinates Read more
