IPL 10, Match 42, DD v GL Preview: Lions aim to play spoilsport in do or die game for Delhi Daredevils

The Delhi Daredevils find themselves in a position from where they have the possibility of making it to the playoffs. They need to win all their remaining five fixtures in order to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament. Daredevils notched up a very impressive win against the favorites Sunrisers Hyderabad in the previous fixture at Delhi. The home ground has certainly helped them get back to winning ways after having faced successive defeats in a row this season.

Now, they stay back at their home venue for the next fixture against the Gujarat Lions. The Lions are pretty much dusted in the tournament and only have a very minimal chance of qualifying for the playoffs. They need to depend on the results of the other teams in order to see whether they advance to the next stage. Having said that, the Lions can be dangerous for the other teams.

If they end up winning their remaining fixtures, they will surely end up hurting the chances of the other teams in tournament. The two teams are yet to clash in the season thus far and look evenly matched in head to head encounters. The last time these two sides met at the Feroze Shah Kotla last year, the hosts had eked out a one run win over the Gujarat Lions.

Toss: Delhi Daredevils won the toss and opted to field

Quotes from the toss:

Suresh Raina: We would have loved to bowled first here. But we just have to go out there and put runs on the board, and the rest is upto the bowlers. We just have to go there and express yourself. Go there with the right approach and enjoy the game. We are playing with the same eleven.

Karun Nair: We are bowling first. We did well last game and there will be dew later on, so I prefer chasing. We gained momentum with win in the last game. We want to take one game at a time and enjoy ourselves. Three changes: Morris, Mathews, Jayant OUT. Cummins, Samuels and Nadeem are in.

Playing XI:

Gujarat Lions: Ishan Kishan, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina(c), Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik(w), Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Pradeep Sangwan, Basil Thampi, Ankit Soni

Delhi Daredevils: :Sanju Samson, Karun Nair(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Marlon Samuels, Corey Anderson, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Shahbaz Nadeem, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami

Focus will be on

Rishabh Pant

Young Delhi batsman Rishabh Pant has been a top performer in this season in domestic cricket. Pant walked in the tournament riding on a big reputation of a big hard hitting player. The Delhi lad has been impressive in spells this season. He then took India’s premier bowler Umesh Yadav to the cleaners in one of the fixtures by hitting 26 runs off his over. Surely, the young lad is not short on talent. But his willow has failed to fire in most of the matches in the season. In the last game, he was promoted up the order and that seemed to have worked well in his favor.

Ravindra Jadeja

The Gujarat Lions coach Brad Hodge had tipped Ravindra Jadeja to be their main bowler in the tournament. But the all-rounder has largely been unsuccessful in giving the breakthroughs to the team this season. He has been electrifying on the field with a couple of runouts to his name in the fixture against the Mumbai Indians. But Jadeja has not quite clicked with the ball yet in the tournament. The team expects him to come up with a big performance that he is very much capable of doing.

Karun Nair

Young batsman Karun Nair has a big reputation in the Indian cricket. Nair has been a top performer in the domestic circuit for quite some time now. Especially after having hit a triple ton in Test cricket, his stature as a batsman has only grown from strength to strength. However, the Bangalore lad has failed to translate his form from the domestic circuit to the shortest format of the game in the season thus far.

Team Combinations:

Delhi Daredevils

The highly talked about inexperienced Delhi Daredevils batting lineup finally came to the party in their herculean win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad. All batsmen in the top 6 managed to get scores under their belt in the previous game. They will surely be much more confident going into the game against the Lions. Karun Nair looks like a good fit in the opening slot with Sanju Samson, especially after having faltered in the middle order.

In the bowling department, Pat Cummins might make a comeback to the playing eleven at the expense of Kagiso Rabada. Rabada leaked 59 runs in his four overs in the previous game. Jayant Yadav is likely to retain the place in the team considering two left-handers in Ishan Kishan and Suresh Raina in the Gujarat Lions batting top order. Availability of Zaheer Khan remains largely unknown but his absence has not been felt by the Delhi camp.

Gujarat Lions

The Gujarat Lions are likely to field the same lineup that played against the Rising Pune Supergiant. Despite their defeat in the previous game, it would be unfair to say that they had a lackluster outing. They had ensured a tie in the game against Mumbai Indians and the bowlers had stepped up to the occasion for the first time this season. Pradeep Sangwan, who played his first match of the season, was among the wickets against RPS. He is likely to get another game in the season.

Ankit Soni has been highly impressive in the matches that he has played thus far in the tournament. Basil Thampi’s accuracy in the death overs sees him as a certain starter in the match as well. The only slot where they can try out a new player is for Dwayne Smith. But considering the experience Smith has, it would be unfair to drop him after one failed outing. In the batting, Ishan Kishan seems to have settled well at the top order with Brendon McCullum.

StatAttack

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

2 – Number of times both teams have faced each other. Both teams have one win to their name in these contests.

166 – Chris Morris bats with a strike rate of 166.79 in the IPL – the third highest in the list of highest strike rates.

4400  – Suresh Raina became the first batsman to reach 4400 runs in IPL history.