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Delhi Daredevils, looking to get back to winning ways after two straight defeats, face a stern test against formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad in Thursday’s IPL match, in Hyderabad.
The home team is in red-hot form, having secured 14 points from 10 matches (winning 7 and losing only 3), and will look to cement its position at the top by winning comfortably against the Daredevils.
The Sunrisers have put their unimpressive showing in previous editions of the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament behind and look like a well-oiled machine this season following brilliant performances from their batsmen and bowlers.
Captain David Warner is among the highest run-getters in this edition and has single-handedly led the team to victory more than once.
Shikhar Dhawan, the other opener, is also in good form, steering the team in the event of his skipper's early dismissal.
Dhawan's 33-run knock off 27 balls went a long way in the team posting 137 in Tuesday’s match against Rising Pune Supergiants, in Visakhapatnam, and winning the match by four runs despite Adam Zampa’s dream spell of six for 19.
The Sunrisers also have brilliant batsmen in Kane Williamson, Moises
Henriques, Deepak Hooda and wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha in the middle of the batting order.
Their lethal bowling attack, comprising Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the seasoned Ashish Nehra, Bangaldesh pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman and Barinder Sran, is the most-feared in the current edition of the IPL.
It is no exaggeration that somebody pointed out that to play against the sharp Sunrisers bowlers on their home turf is like taking on a crocodile in water.
The Daredevils are currently fourth in the points’ table with 10 points from nine matches.
The Rahul Dravid-mentored side hasn’t faltered on its basics as could be seen in its impressive run. It has some top-class players in its ranks, like Quinton de Kock, captain Zaheer Khan, wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson and top-order player Karun Nair.
They will be hoping Zaheer, who has been impressive in the death overs in some of the matches, provides early breakthroughs and young Samson and Rishabh Pant play big knocks.
The Daredevils had rested some of its key players for some matches and it remains to be seen if they return to the playing eleven for the Thursday’s crucial match.
Teams (from):
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (captain), Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Trent Boult, Ben Cutting, Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhimanyu Midtun, Eoin Morgan, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Mehra, Naman Ojha, Vijay Shanker, Karn Sharma, Barinder Sran, T Suman, Aditya Tare, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh.
Delhi Daredevils: Zaheer Khan (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Khaleel Ahmed, Sam Billings, Carlos Brathwaite, Nathan Coulter Nile, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Akhil Harwardkar, Imran Tahir, Shreyas Iyer, Manipal Lamror, Chama Milind, Amit Mishra, Mohammad Shami, Chris Morris, Shahbaz Nadeem, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Rishabh Pant, Pratyush Singh, Sanju Samson, Pawan Suyal, Jayant Yadav.