(Cricket news) Both Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad have found it tough to maintain consistency in this year's IPL 2022. The two teams are separated by just two points but as many spots. The battle to get into the top four is bound to be more intense with each team having four games left after this.
DC are yet to find that winning combination as David Warner, the former title-winning captain, will go up against SRH for the first time since his unceremonious exit from the franchise last season. DC’s batting this season has been topsy turvy as the middle order has been hot and cold the entire season with the likes of Mitchell Marsh, Rovman Powell and Axar Patel unable to perform at a consistent level. In the bowling department it has been the Kuldeep Yadav show as he has picked up 17 wickets this season and subsequently won the man of the match trophy everytime DC have won this year. The left arm trio of Axar, Mustafizur and Chetan Sakariya will be the key in restricting their opposition to a low score as Mustafizur Rahman has kept Tripathi in check to a strike rate of 40, Chetan Sakariya limits him to 83 and finally Shardul Thakur has restricted him to a strike rate of 117.
The SRH camp on the other hand will be hoping that their bowling finds its mojo back after conceding a lot of runs in the last two matches. The likes of Umran Malik, Marco Jansen and T Natarajan have been phenomenal this season but over the last two matches they have been taken to raptors, going more than 10 rpo. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will hold the key for SRH as he has dismissed Prithvi Shaw twice and he scores just a run-a-ball against Bhuvneshwar. This could set the tone early for SRH and might put them in the driving seat. In the batting department, SRH will be desperate that their skipper Kane Williamson, who has only one fifty this season, finds his touch again. One positive is the form of the young opener Abhishek Sharma who has scored more than 320 runs in this year’s tournament and is lighting up the season with his stroke play.
Pitch and weather report: The Brabourne pitch has seen lots of runs scored as well as opposition getting out for less than 100 runs. It has been a relatively spin-friendly ground as the small boundaries might come into play. The temperature is going to hover around 31 degrees as dew may play a part in the second innings.
Interesting facts:
- Kane Williamson has won eight out of nine tosses this season
- Rishabh Pant has a strike-rate in excess of 145 in five of the six innings he has faced more than ten balls.
- Warner is the highest run-getter for Sunrisers in IPL history, with 4014 runs at an average of 49.6.
- Pant has 466 runs, has hit 22 sixes and smashed 128* against Sunrisers
- Kane Williamson needs to take two more catches to reach 100 catches in T20 cricket.
- Axar Patel (99) needs just one scalp to complete 100 wickets in the IPL
- Mustafizur Rahman (46) requires four wickets to reach 50 wickets in the IPL.
Also read: Concerned that different types of bowlers are getting Kohli out: Ian Bishop
Probable XI for DC:
1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 David Warner, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt& wk), 5 Lalit Yadav, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Chetan Sakariya
Probable XI for SRH:
1 Kane Williamson (capt), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Washington Sundar/J Suchith, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Marco Jansen, 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan/Kartik Tyagi
