Delhi Capitals finished second at the end of the league stage, with a well-balanced lineup comprising a daunting batting order, a clinical spin combination and a lethal pace duo. But the second half of the season has only seen their downfall, with two consecutive defeats against Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab, preceded by a struggling win against Chennai Super Kings. They now look to finish the unfinished business and seal their spot om the playoffs with a win against a topsy-turvy Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Dubai International Stadium.
SRH, on the other hand, hang by a thread following their humiliating loss to KXIP in a chase to a paltry total. They presently stand in the penultimate spot in the points table with eight points from 11 games. They need not just win all the remaining games, which will leave them with 14 points, they need to ensure that other factors fall in place.
For Capitals, it has been their batting that has let them down. With Shikhar Dhawan's rise in form, the Capitals have tended to rely on his firework to hget to a good total as seen in the last three games. He failed in the final, the the rest fell like nine pins.
Opener Prithvi Shaw, who has been going through a lean patch, was replaced by Ajinkya Rahane but to no avail as the senior Indian player perished without opening his account.
Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer have also struggled since their return to the playing XI.
The South African pace duo of Kagiso Rabada (23 wickets) and Anrich Nortje (14) has been exceptional. Tushar Deshpande and Ravichandran Ashwin's performance has been erratic in recent matches, while Axar Patel has done well to suffocate the opposition teams.
Sunrisers head into the clash after a demoralising loss. Chasing a modest 127 against KXIP, the complexion of the match changed following the dismissal of openers Warner and Jonny Bairstow in quick succession.
The former champions lost five wickets in the final two overs to suffer a humiliating defeat.
The team heavily relies on its batting unit, mainly on Bairstow, Warner and Manish Pandey. Vijay Shankar did well in the win against Rajasthan Royals but couldn't replicate his performance against KXIP.
The bowling unit strengthened by the inclusion of Jason Holder was outstanding in the previous game and skipper Warner will desperately hope they put up a similar display against Delhi.
The Orange Army will also take confidence from the fact that they defeated Delhi earlier in the tournament.
Teams (from):
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (c), Kagiso Rabada, Marcus Stoinis, Sandeep Lamichhane, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Alex Carey, Mohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Lalit Yadav, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Tushar Deshpande, Rishabh Pant, Harshal Patel, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra, Anrich Nortje, Daniel Sams.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Shreevats Goswami, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, B Sandeep, Sanjay Yadav, Fabian Allen, Prithvi Raj Yarra, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddharth Kaul, Billy Stanlake, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi.
Match starts at 7.30pm (IST).
(with PTI inputs)
