IPL 2018, Match 42, DD vs SRH, Match Prediction: Who will win the match today, Delhi Daredevils or Sunrisers Hyderabad?

The campaigns of the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Delhi Daredevils in Indian Premier League (IPL) 11 has been like chalk and cheese. While the first team has marched on without too many obstacles in their way, the other has had a horror of a run so far and is almost out of the tournament now.

Mathematically, Delhi still have a chance as it’s possible to make it to the playoffs with 7 wins and they can still secure that many but for that to happen, they will have to enhance their net run rate by a fair bit and will have to hope the results of some of the other matches go their way. In short, they will have to be lucky.

Pitch and Conditions

The Feroz Shah Kotla pitch remains low and slow more often than not which is why despite the ground-size being extremely small, the matches at this venue weren’t necessarily high scoring barring the odd days.

However given the fact that the visiting team on this occasion has an ideal attack for slow conditions, it will be interesting to see if they try and produce a flat deck and make it a bat versus bat contest.

Playing Combination

Delhi Daredevils

Probable Changes – Naman Ojha and Avesh Khan out, Abhishek Sharma and Mohammed Shami in

Naman Ojha hasn’t played a whole lot of cricket of late and looked out of sorts in his brief outing in the middle the previous game. Delhi will probably be better off handing an opportunity to the young all-rounder Abhishek Sharma who impressed one and all with his finishing abilities in the U19 World Cup.

Apart from having the potential to whack the ball down the order, Abhishek bowls handy left-arm spin as well and can be an ideal 6th bowling option for the skipper Shreyas Iyer if it’s a usual abrasive Kotla surface. Avesh Khan has received a bit of tap from the batters recently which might prompt Delhi to take him away from the firing line and bring back the experienced Mohammed Shami who has been warming the bench for a while.

Predicted XI: Prithvi Shaw, Glenn Maxwell, Shreyas Iyer (C), Rishabh Pant (WK), Vijay Shankar, Dan Christian, Abhishek Sharma, Liam Plunkett, Amit Mishra, Trent Boult, Mohammed Shami

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Probable Changes – No Changes

Hyderabad have been continuously backing Manish Pandey despite his poor form and they might just continue to do so. Manish is the kind of player who has big game experience in the IPL and the management knows if he regains his touch, he can make vital contributions for the team in the playoffs.

Wriddhiman Saha, since he has moved down the order, has looked ineffective with the bat, but that’s something which is hardly surprising as he doesn’t possess the death batting potential.

The fact that Saha can’t be accommodated in the top 3 in this XI is the reason why he has had to bat out of position at no. 7 and the management won’t be expecting much from him with the bat down there. He basically holds his spot as a specialist keeper than a keeper batsman.

Predicted XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Alex Hales, Kane Williamson (C), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma

Team Comparison

Hyderabad might have won 8 out of 10 games, but their bowling hasn’t really been tested on an absolute flat batting surface. Their home pitch is tacky and two-paced and luckily they have been offered similar surfaces playing away as well and they have taken full advantage. If they do come across a good batting surface, the team might be under a little bit of pressure as they don’t have the strongest batting line-up in the tournament.

Delhi’s bowling hasn’t been as consistent as Hyderabad’s and that’s where their problem lies. Their batting has been going alright, but the bowling unit has failed to put on a collective effort and seize the crunch moments of the game. The two senior statesmen, Trent Boult and Liam Plunkett, will be needed to step up to the plate tomorrow and make sure the hosts don’t flatter with the ball.

Probable Top Performers

Shreyas Iyer (Delhi Daredevils), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Head to Head

Matches – 11, Delhi Daredevils – 4, Sunrisers Hyderabad– 7

The timing of the match: 08:00 pm IST

Broadcast Details

TV – Star Sports 1, Star Sports Hindi, Star Sports Select 1

Online – Jio TV, Hotstar

The prediction is for the Delhi Daredevils to beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad in this match.