BR Sharath Joshua Little: Outclassed by Sunrisers Hyderabad in their previous match, Delhi Capitals will be eyeing to return to winning ways when they take on an inconsistent Gujarat Titans in the reverse fixture of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Wednesday.
The two sides met last week at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, where DC easily won by six wickets after bowling out GT for just 89. Both DC and GT, placed at eighth and sixth respectively in the points table, find themselves in a crucial phase of the tournament where they must win all their remaining matches to have a chance at entering the playoffs.
For DC, it is more important to not make any more slip-ups, especially on the tactics and performance front. Against SRH, they literally caused themselves to be pushed on the backfoot after opting to bowl first, with captain Rishabh Pant citing the dew factor, which eventually didn’t help them.
The bowlers couldn’t execute their lines and lengths, apart from Lalit Yadav giving two overs in Power-play, as Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma feasted on them to smash a record 125 for no loss, thus deciding the result of the game in the first six overs itself, despite a late fightback from spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel.
With the bat, barring fireworks from Jake Fraser-McGurk, who slammed a 15-ball fifty, the fastest half-century of the season, and Abishek Porel, none of the batters stepped up to the occasion in a mammoth chase. Curiously, Pant came out to bat at six and struggled for timing and fluency in his knock of 44.
If DC are to upstage GT and improve their NRR, which is currently in negative, they need to step on the field with well-thought plans and avoid suffering a setback in their tough quest to enter the IPL 2024 Playoffs.
Meanwhile, GT got some positives from their tight three-wicket win over Punjab Kings at Mullanpur on Sunday. Left-arm spinner R. Sai Kishore made a scintillating return to the playing eleven with a superb 4-33, followed by Rahul Tewatia applying the finishing touches to the chase with an unbeaten 36 to help the IPL 2022 winners get those crucial two points.
Along with Sai, GT’s spin bowling line-up possesses a formidable look with Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed in the mix, apart from Mohit Sharma being the most experienced pacer in the fast-bowling department.
The onus would firmly be on captain Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha, B. Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai and Shahrukh Khan to get big runs with the bat if they are to get another away win.
Squads:
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (c), Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Axar Patel, Mukesh Kumar, Mitchell Marsh, Anrich Nortje, Pravin Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Abishek Porel, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Lalit Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Tristan Stubbs, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson, Sumit Kumar, Shai Hope, Lizaad Williams and Swastik Chhikara.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Sharma, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Spencer Johnson, Sandeep Warrier, BR Sharath Joshua Little, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi and Manav Suthar
Match starts at 7:30 pm on Star Sports (TV) and JioCinema (mobile).