Transfers made – 1 (2); Transfers remaining – 25 (24)
AB de Villiers out – David Warner in (flat deck)
Yuzvendra Chahal out – Yuvraj Singh in
(Uncapped) Krunal Pandya out – Jayant Yadav in
Batting Captain – David Warner (flat)/ Shikhar Dhawan (slow)
Bowling Captain – Mustafizur Rahman
Batting captaincy options – David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan and Quinton de Kock
Delhi Daredevils aren’t the same unit they were a week ago, and the prime reason for that is Zaheer Khan’s fitness. Not only has it made Delhi a bowler short but has elso exposed another serious liability in the team – Mohammed Shami. If Zaheer doesn’t get his groove back, their only way out of this is playing both Nathan Coulter-Nile and Chris Morris on flat decks.
For now, they have one of the weakest bowling attacks in the league, and therefore, the captaincy choice has.to be between Warner and Dhawan. Also, I can’t carry De Kock to his second match. Between the two, if the wicket is slow, as it was the last match, I would captain Dhawan. It also helps me not waste a substitution on Warner. But if it’s flat, get Warner in and captain him.
Bowling captaincy options – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Nehra and Chris Morris
I don’t have Nehra and Morris, so that makes the decision easier for me. Of the two choices available, I would stick with Mustafizur since if there is anyone that the likes of Duminy, Morris, and Brathwaite are going to struggle to face at the death, it is the Bangladesh pacer.
Nature of the deck – Usually flat, but the last match it was slow and very difficult to bat on. Watch out for what the captains say at the toss. The Daredevils’ team combination is an indicator too.
Uncapped player order – Karun Nair (if he plays at 3), Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Deepak Hooda
Delhi Daredevils – Fantasy Clinchers
Jayant Yadav is likely to replace Shahbaz Nadeem consideirng the number of left-handers in the SRH top-order. After his failures in the last two innings, Sam Billings should make way for JP Duminy as well.
If the wicket is slow, Imran Tahir could come in for Carlos Brathwaite. Shami has been very disappointing this season, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him getting thrown out as well.
As discussed earlier, Daredevils’ fate lies in Zaheer’s hands. If he isn’t able to regain full fitness, it’s better to do what’s best for the team: quit captaincy and opt out of the team.
Sunrisers Hyderabad – Fantasy Clinchers
The only issue with the Hyderabad-based franchise is Kane Williamson, whose limitations as a T20 batsman have got exposed again. But the team hasn’t really helped the Kiwi stalwart by playing him out of his position.
Yuvraj Singh looks a real deal this time around. I was waiting on him to see if the innings against Mumbai Indians was just one-off like it has been happening with him for years now, but there were enough indicators against Rising Pune Supergiants to punt on him.
Match call – Sunrisers Hyderabad to win.
