Raipur will act as the home ground for Delhi Daredevils when they take on the mighty Sunrisers Hyderabad in a must-win encounter. The Daredevils started well in this season of the IPL but seem to be running out of steam of late. A late surge can take them to the playoffs but they would be mindful of the fact that their negative net run rate needs a lot of improvement. They currently have 12 points in 12 games with two home games to go at Raipur. They will need to win both the games comprehensively to enhance their chances of reaching the final four. If they lose even one game from here they might have to bid this tournament goodbye courtesy their poor NRR.
Sunrisers though are sitting pretty at the top of the points table with 16 points and are almost certain of a place in the playoffs unless they lose both their remaining matches by a huge margin. Warner though would love a top two finish for the Sunrisers and for that they would need to win just one of their two remaining games. They would like to achieve that feat in this game itself against the Daredevils. With their key players in top form, they already are one of the firm favourites to lift the coveted IPL trophy this season.
Venue: Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium, Raipur
Match date: May 20, 2016
Match timings: 2000 hrs IST
If Delhi Daredevils bat first
Predicted score: 155 and above
One can expect a few changes in their playing eleven for this crucial fixture. Shreyas Iyer might make way for an extra batsman. Sam Billings or Carlos Braithwaite can come into the side to add some much-needed firepower to the batting and Sanju Samson could be asked to open with Quinton de Kock. In that case, Nathan Coulter-Nile could miss out.
What would worry Zaheer is how inept the batting looked against the underperformers, Supergiants. They would need to inject some vigour and positivity into their batting. Quinton de Kock needs to come good in a crunch time like this. It might also be a good idea for the think-tank to promote Morris up the order as he looked in supreme touch in the previous game.
Expect a watchful start from the Daredevils if they bat first as they need to tread with caution. De Kock vs Mustafizur should be an exciting contest to look out for. On the bowling front, Delhi will look up to Zaheer, Shami and Morris to do the damage up front. Mishra would want to bring his A-game to the table and he might have Shahbaz Nadeem giving him company. Mishra vs Yuvraj promises to be an exciting contest.
If Sunrisers Hyderabad bats first:
Predicted score: 170 and above
The Sunrisers have been clinical so far in this tournament and they would want to continue in the same manner while moving towards the business end of the tournament. Sunrisers will open with their trusted duo of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan. Expect the Sunrisers to get off to a rollicking start with Warner leading the charge. Even the likes of Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting have settled into their roles nicely. Deepak Hooda has shown fine form at the top as well.
Yuvraj’s batting has been like a breath of fresh air after he returned to the side recovering fully from the ankle injury. He has taken calculated risks in the middle and has stayed till the end to finish off games. Expect Hyderabad to notch up a big score if they manage to tick most of these boxes.
Their bowling has been very impressive for SRH. One can safely say that they have the best bowling attack amongst all the teams and they have come a long way. They depend largely on their pacers. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been outstanding with the new ball and Ashish Nehra has given him good support, with him out for the season it will be interesting to see who fills his shoes.
Moises Henriques and Karn Sharma are expected to keep it tight in the middle. Mustafizur has just been a little off-colour in the last couple of games and his form would be crucial for the Sunrisers going into the playoffs. Expect Sunrisers to ride the momentum and beat the Daredevils at Raipur.
Probable Winner: Sunrisers Hyderabad
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