The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 has finally arrived in New Delhi with hosts Delhi Capitals set to square off against in-form Sunrises Hyderabad on their home turf, at Arun Jaitley Stadium, on Saturday.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad batters have been going all guns blazing in this season. The unit has posted two record-breaking totals (277/3 vs MI & 287/3 vs RCB) but at the same time, their bowlers have leaked runs in plenty. In fact, the Pat Cummins-led side has conceded 200+ thrice in the competition so far and managed to steal a two-run win against the Punjab Kings despite putting up 182/9 on the board. The sad state of their bowling department was also visible during the clash against GT where they just picked three wickets while defending a target of 163.
The Hyderabad franchise has been more dependent on their batting this edition and if their batters fail to deliver against the Capitals, the negotiation won’t be easy for the visitors. Moreover, DC coach Ricky Ponting said they have some “clear plans” for the SRH batters.
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“We’ve done all our planning today. We’ve got some very clear plans in place for all their batters. How, you know, one, first and foremost, we’re gonna get them out,” Ponting said during the pre-match press conference.
DC ticking all the boxes
Delhi Capitals might have had a struggling start to the tournament as they lost four out of their first five matches but they have certainly got their act right before landing at their traditional home turf. They have won back-to-back games with the batters in good touch and bowlers in brilliant form, especially after that match against the Titans.
The pacers, and especially Khaleel Ahmed, have done a good job. The left-arm pacer already has 10 scalps to his name. Kuldeep Yadav’s comeback from injury has also boosted their spin attack alongside Axar Patel. While Kuldeep has six wickets to his name from four matches, Axar has five from seven. But bowling miserly with a cheap economy rate has been the USP of their bowling.
Both the bowlers have been bowling at an economy rate of under seven. Their spells will be very crucial during the middle-overs against SRH especially against Heinrich Klaasen who has scored 102 runs off 48 deliveries against spin.
DC also have a set of some flamboyant batters and the line-up has been buoyed after Jake Fraser-McGurk’s addition. The uncapped Aussie batter stamped his authority with a 35-ball 55 on his debut and can hit the ball too long.
Alongside McGurk is Prithvi Shaw who has been amongst the runs and has a half-century, 43 and 32 to his name in five appearances this season.
Apart from this, Rishabh Pant’s return to the big league has been nothing less than a Bollywood script. The skipper has impressed everyone with his wicket-keeping skills and his aggressive stroke play has just added value to that middle order which has the likes of Shai Hope, Tristan Stubbs and Axar Patel.
Team News
The home side has six points after three wins from seven games. Sunrisers, on the other hand, who have been threatening the opposition with their record-breaking totals, have eight points from six matches.
Both sides travel to Delhi after winning their previous matches. While DC bowlers rattled the Gujarat Titans’ batting unit to bundle them out for 89 and won the match by six wickets, SRH put up the highest IPL total of 287/3 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Ponting also gave an update on David Warner’s injury and said he has recovered 90 percent from his knuckle injury.
“David is getting closer to full fitness. We’d expect that there’d be a little bit more improvement from him today,” said Ponting.
“It hasn’t been the smoothest start for us this year. Mitchell Marsh has gone home, and Harry Brook not even coming in the first place. Then Kuldeep and Mukesh missed a couple of games, but I’ve been happy with the two back-to-back wins,” he added.
Match Details
Match: Delhi Capitals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Day & Time: Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 19:30 IST
Venue: Arun Jaitely Stadium, Delhi
Probable XIs
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sumit Kumar, Tristan Stubbs, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan
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