Delhi faces tough competition in match against Sunrisers

Two teams which have only recently recovered from poor form will square off when Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad clash in Hyderabad on Saturday in a Pepsi IPL match with both sides aiming to continue the winning run and stay alive in the event.

The match is crucial for both the teams are in the lower half of the points table with Delhi being second last right now.

DD have six points from 10 matches, while SH have bagged 12 from the same number of matches.

The Sunrisers have enjoyed a dream run at home, winning all the matches played in Hyderabad so far.

The lethal bowling attack of Sunrisers comprising World No 1 Dale Steyn, medium-pacer Ishant Sharma, wily leg-spinner Amit Mishra, the dependable Thisara Perera and in-form Karan Sharma has played a crucial role in their victories against some of the formidable teams like Mumbai Indians.

Though batting had been an area of concern for the Sunrisers, it has also shown marked improvement of late with the return of Shikhar Dhawan and West Indies Captain Darren Sammy.

Dhawan single-handedly led his team to victory against the Mumbai Indians on Wednesday by making 73 unbeaten runs (55 balls, 9x4, 1x6). Captain Kumar Sangakkara, who had been out of form, also showed glimpses of his brilliance in the match by making useful 21 runs.

Young Hyderabad players like G Hanuma Vihari, who scored 25 runs (23b, 2x4) in the match against Mumbai, and Akshat Reddy also contributed their bit for the team's recent success.

Not surprisingly, Sunrisers Coach Tom Moody has attributed his team's success to the collective effort of the players.

On the other hand, Delhi have just managed to survive in the competition by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets on May 1.

However, it can take solace from the brilliant show of Australia's David Warner, who played a blistering knock of 66 runs and young Unmukt Chand (37, 4x4), which helped the team win the last match.

However, seasoned players like Virender Sehwag, Captain Mahela Jayawardane, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra and Morne Morkel need to come up with splendid performances to make matters difficult for the Sunrisers.

The Teams (from):
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kumar Sangakkara (C ), Cameron White, Akshat Reddy, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Biplab Samantray, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Darren Sammy, D B Ravi Teja, G H Vihari, Ishant Sharma, Karan Sharma, Nathan McCullum, Pathiv Patel, Prasant Padmanabhan, Quinton de Cock, Sachin Rana, Shikhar Dhawan, Sudeep Tyagi, T Sargunam, Thisara Perera and Veer Pratap Singh.
Delhi Daredevils: Mahela Jayawardane (Captain), Virender Sehwag, David Warner, Umesh Yadav, Manpreet Juneja, Ashish Nehra, Naman Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Andre Russell, Kedar Jadhav, Ajit Agarkar, Johan Botha, Unmukt Chand, Morne Morkel, Shabaz Nadeem, Ben Rohrer, Royston Dias, Muralitharan Gautam, Sidharth Kaul, Jeevan Mendis, Yogesh Nagar, Sujeet Nayak, Pavan Negi, Aristh Singhvi, Roelof van der Merwe, Venugopal Rao and Gulam Bodi.