IPL 10, Match 21, SRH v DD Preview: Sunrisers Hyderabad aim to continue winning momentum

The Sunrisers Hyderabad have had a mixed bag of season in the IPL this year thus far. They have managed to win their 3 home games but lost the two away games till now. They are now up against the Delhi Daredevils in their fourth home match of the season. Needless to say, they will be backing themselves to register yet another win at their fortress.

On the other hand, the Delhi Daredevils are trying to find consistency with their lineup. They have been highly impressive in one game and then have conceded the game in the other. Such has been the story of the season for the Zaheer Khan-led team till now. They will know that beating the Sunrisers in their own dugout will be a hard nut to crack. Despite that, they will take pride from the fact that they have not succumbed meekly in any of the matches.

Coming in to the game, SRH will be having the winning momentum after having beaten Kings XI Punjab in their previous match. On the other hand, the Delhi Daredevils were outperformed by the Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous game. When these two sides lock horns on Wednesday, it will be bowling might against another bowling might. Both sides boast of some serious bowling brigade. It will all come down to the inconsistent batting lineups of both the side. The stronger on the day shall prevail.

Toss: SRH won the toss & elected to bat first

David Warner: We’re gonna bat first. It’s a re-used pitch. We’ll try and post as much as possible. We got 2 changes. Nabi misses out for Kane Williamson. Siraj comes in for Sran.

Zaheer Khan: One change. Jayant is back in the squad. The wicket looks decent. Hope it remains the same Looking really good. All games we lost, were close ones. The morale is high. Strings of success should happen. Good energy around.

Playing XI

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Naman Ojha(w), Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Siddarth Kaul

Delhi Daredevils: Sanju Samson, Sam Billings, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Angelo Mathews, Chris Morris, Jayant Yadav, Pat Cummins, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan(c)

Focus will be on

Rashid Khan

Young leggie Rashid Khan has been the find of the season for the Sunrisers thus far. He has managed to pick up wickets in each of the games that he played. In the last game, he had the support of his Afghanistani teammate Mohammad Nabi in the lineup too. That must have boosted his confidence. However, the last game saw Rashid being taken away for plenty of runs. It is not a usual sight for Rashid to conceded in excess of 40 in his quota of 4 overs. It will be interesting to see how the leggie fares up in the matches to follow.

Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant will continue to take the limelight this season as long as he is in the playing eleven. The young batsman knows only one way of playing the game and that is the hard way. Pant smacked a quick 37 in the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders. En route his whirlwind cameo, he made a mockery of arguably the best Indian pacer at the moment. He smashed 26 runs in a single over off the bowling of Umesh Yadav on the day. It will be worth watching if Pant gets a promotion in the lineup.

Shikhar Dhawan

A lot of eyes will be on Shikhar Dhawan when the Sunrisers Hyderabad take on the Delhi Daredevils. This will largely be due to the fact that Dhawan has had a quiet season thus far. Having been out of the national setup, Dhawan needed to put up a strong statement by scoring heavily in the IPL. However, he has failed to get the big runs. A couple of 40s have come from his bat but he is definitely renowned for a lot more than just that.

Team Combination – Sunrisers Hyderabad

The Sunrisers Hyderabad are likely to go in with pretty much the same side that played against the Kings XI Punjab. Barinder Sran, who was an expensive deal on the day, could miss out from the playing eleven and Ashish Nehra could make a comeback to the match. Openers David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan are certain starters for the game. Moises Henriques had an off day at the office and he might be replaced by Ben Cutting in the lineup.

Barring that, the team looks balanced. Both Afghanistan players Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan were very impressive as they bowled in tandem. Also, the fact that Mohammad Nabi can be very handy with the bat adds batting depth in the side. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was just too good with a five wicket haul to his name. The middle order needs to fire with Yuvraj Singh and Deepak Hooda not being in the best of forms.

Team Combination – Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils is not a very happy camp at the moment. They lost their previous game and that just exposed their fragile batting lineup. All the young guns got scores to their names but none could breach the 40-run mark. With several cameos in the innings, there was no anchor knock to be guiding them. With the ball, the Delhi camp has been quite settled. They have a problem of plenty when it comes to the bowling department.

Getting into the game against the Sunrisers, it is very likely that Mohammad Shami will be rested from the match. This is largely due to the fact that the track at Hyderabad has some spin assistance. Amidst this backdrop, expect Shahbaz Nadeem to be back in the playing eleven. He will have the support of Amit Mishra as the other spinner in the lineup. Pat Cummins could be given a much-needed rest and Kagiso Rabada could get his first game of the season.

StatAttack 

1 – Zaheer needs 1 more wicket to complete 100 IPL wickets.

34 – David Warner has 34 fifties to his name – the most fifties in IPL history.

143 – Number of sixes hit by David Warner in IPL. This is the 6th most sixes hit by a player in the tournament history. Yuvraj Singh has 138 sixes to his name and is 9th on the list.