IPL 2021 Qualifier 1: “Delhi Capitals are going to expose a lot of weaknesses in the Chennai line-up” - Brad Hogg

Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg reckons Delhi Capitals (DC) have a significant upper hand over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) heading into Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings will meet on Sunday in Dubai, aiming to book a place in the IPL 2021 final. Delhi Capitals got the better of their Qualifier 1 opponents in both the league matches.

According to Hogg, Delhi Capitals will start as favorites on Sunday as well. He feels CSK’s batting is too weak at the moment to stand up to Delhi’s versatile bowling line-up.

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Previewing the first qualifier of IPL 2021 on his YouTube channel, the former left-arm spinner stated:

“Delhi Capitals have got better match-ups against Chennai Super Kings. If they play to the best of their ability, none of the other three teams in this competition can beat the Delhi Capitals. The only team that could beat Delhi on paper is not in this competition anymore - Mumbai Indians.”

Hogg further added that the Delhi Capitals pacers as well as slow bowlers could trouble the CSK batters, who are not in form, barring the openers. Hogg explained:

“Delhi Capitals are the best because they are playing against the third best team in the competition - Chennai Super Kings. Delhi Capitals are going to expose a lot of weaknesses in the Chennai line-up. If you look at the DC bowling line-up, they have got pace - Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan opening the bowling, (Kagiso) Rabada coming in the middle overs as well with the extra pace. They have two quality spinners in Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin.”

The 50-year-old further elaborated on the upcoming DC versus CSK clash and said:

“Nortje and Avesh Khan against Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad, they are going to expose a few weaknesses with the short ball to both of those players. If they get early wickets, then they expose that middle-order, which is starting to fall out of form a little bit. Moeen Ali has lost his way a little bit. Uthappa hasn’t adopted that well to the middle-order role. If Raina comes back as well, he doesn’t like pace. I am not confident with Rayudu’s form at the moment and Dhoni as well seems to be out of touch. They can’t rely on Jadeja and Bravo to make up for that weakness in the middle-order.”

Chennai go into Qualifier 1 having lost their last three league games. Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, went down to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their final IPL 2021 league match.

“Only weakness that Delhi Capitals have got is that sixth batter” - Brad Hogg

Speaking about Delhi Capitals’ batting, Hogg pointed out that the openers are in great form. According to him, Chennai will have to pick up early wickets to put the DC team under pressure. He explained:

“(Prithvi) Shaw and (Shikhar) Dhawan, opening the batting, like the ball coming onto the bat. Chahar and Hazlewood will give that pace. Hazlewood likes to hit that good length and Shaw likes to hit off it. If they can get early wickets against this prominent opener pair, CSK can be back in favor in the battle.”

He admitted that the sixth batter is a weak link in the Delhi Capitals line-up, but added that he was impressed with Ripal Patel’s aggressive approach. Hogg concluded:

“(Rishabh) Pant can dominate the slow bowlers in the middle-order. Shreyas (Iyer) and (Shimron) Hetmyer as well have found form and they can take the game away. The only weakness that the Delhi Capitals have got is that sixth batter, where they have got Ripal Patel. Love the way he goes about his business. To play with freedom when you have got nothing to lose...”

Delhi Capitals ended the league stage at the top of the points table, winning 10 of their 14 matches.