Delhi Daredevils is like the classic sinking ship. If ahead of the tournament the absence of big international stars was not enough to derail their campaign then midway through the tournament Zaheer Khan’s missing from action will dent their confidence when they take on a red-hot Surisers Hyderabad who are coming fresh of a massive victory against Kolkata Knight Riders. But it is Delhi Daredevils who need a miracle to stay afloat in the playoffs race.
Kane Williamson, playing his first match of the season, struck an adroit 89 as Sunrisers Hyderabad put up 191 and prevailed by 15 runs, which means they are in a position of comfort because even David Warner is in great form and they too have the purple cap holder, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have a 6-3 advantage from the nine times the two sides have met. Marlon Samuels did not play in Daredevils’ previous match, against Kings XI Punjab, having landed in the country on the eve of the match, so he in all probability will get a game.
Delhi Daredevils have all to play for and they would be hoping their Indian stars get back to making runs. Nair, Iyer, Samson, Pant would like to strike big.
The likely XIs
Delhi Daredevils: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Sam Billings, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Karun Nair (capt), 7 Chris Morris, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Shahbaz Nadeem/Jayant Yadav, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Mohammed Shami
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Moises Henriques, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Bipul Sharma/Deepak Hooda, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Siddarth Kaul, 11 Mohammed Siraj
