The last time these two teams met at Feroz Shah Kotla, Hyderabad restricted Delhi on 129 and then went on to win the game by 5 wickets. This was 4th game for Hyderabad in the league, Bhubaneswar Kumar, the standing captain of the team in place of Kane Williamson took 2 impressive wickets of Prithvi Shaw and Chris Morris. Today will be 7th game for Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar Kumar has only 3 wickets under his tally. One more bowler has the same story, Rashid Khan has a career strike rate of 20.37 but in the 6 matches his strike rate is of 28.80. This is too much for a player like him. The only player who has played all the game and has a decent average, economy and strike rate is Sandeep Sharma. Mohammad Nabi is the standout player for them as he has been a terrific all-rounder for Hyderabad. But once Kane Williamson will make a comeback, Nabi will be the person whom he’ll replace. A team which had one of the best bowling line up of the league is placed on the sixth position at the points table.
Delhi Capitals are the real underdog of this season. They are doing the right things at the time when no one expects them to do anything. With the way they are playing it would not be a surprise if they go on to win the league. Their bowler gives away around 200 runs and their batsman while trying to go near to the target and end up with a super over. Their bowler delivers the best ball of the season to take the wicket of a player who is in a sensational form and then the team wins the match. This was done when no one expected them to win the match against Kolkata Knight Riders.
After such a brilliant show, people expect that they will win the next game but then they go on to lose the next two games. After these two losses, people expect that they will make it third on a row but they go on to win the next two games.
Today’s match is at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. The formula is simple to win the toss and elect to bowl first. This will be the strategy today too.
The thing is no team this season has a lethal pace bowling attack and the spinners are also ineffective when dew factor comes into the play. Teams have won a number of matches due to their batting and only a few matches were there where a bowler or a set of bowlers took the game home. When the last match will be played in this year’s Indian Premier League the whole story will be summarized in this context only.
Ankit
Part-time storyteller, part-time writer, part-time cricket analyst, and a full-time human being.
