Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 8
AB de Villiers out – David Warner in
(uncapped) Ankit Rajpoot out – Deepak Hooda in
Batting captain – David Warner
Bowling captain – Chris Morris (DD bowl first)/ Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH bowl first)
Batting captaincy options – David Warner, Quinton de Kock
Of the two, Warner has been more dependable, has played bigger knocks and is facing a comparatively easier bowler attack too – which makes him a safer choice. Shikhar Dhawan could help himself to a fifty as well if the Daredevils do not play two overseas pacers.
Bowling captaincy options – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chris Morris and Mustafizur Rahman
All 3 could give you an easy couple of wickets today. I can’t bring Mustafizur in at this point, so between the other two, I would go in with the bowler from the team that bowls first. The Sunrisers have 3 left-handers in top four, which could nullify Amit Mishra.
Nature of the deck – Unknown. Look out for what happens at the toss, and the team combination of Delhi Daredevils.
Uncapped player options – Deepak Hooda, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant, Jayant Yadav
DD - Fantasy Clinchers
With the pitch type not known, it would be an attempt in vain to predict the playing XI of the Daredevils. But some of the changes should be obvious – Shreyas Iyer has batted worse than a tailender this season, so he would obviously be thrown out. While I hope they bring back Mayank Agarwal, given how badly he blew his chances, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rishabh Pant promoted to opening against a team he did very well last time.
Nathan Coulter-Nile seemed to struggle with some kind of an injury towards the end of the last game, which could lead to Delhi bringing back Carlos Brathwaite.
There are a lot of theories going around as to why they have lost the plot after starting off very well – the most pointless of which is their constant chopping and changing. All those changes were tactical, and in a game that largely depends on the pitch it is being played on, you can’t always play the same XI.
If anything, they have lost as many matches because of their reluctance to be flexible with their batting order. Playing Duminy at 6 and Morris at 7 hasn’t helped them one bit. They need to be bold in that aspect and promote someone like Duminy, who had a freak season last year batting in the top order. While it could solve some of ther issues, let’s just admit they are not a great team to win every match they play rather than finding reasons for the sake of it.
SRH – Fantasy Clinchers
With Nehra ruled out of the tournament, Barinder Sran would obviously be replacing him in the team. This is a huge blow to their bowling unit, one that could even cost them the title. Nehra’s absence means Sran would be forced to bowl with the new ball, a role he has been very poor at.
As I have been calling for the entire tournament, Sunrisers have finally decided to use Hooda as a floater – this improves their batting unit. Cutting and Henriques could land a few big hits down the order. It is their bowling that they need to cover up now.
Match call – The team that chases is most likely to win
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