IPL 6: DD vs PWI- Delhi Daredevils Preview
IPL fans in Raipur are in for a treat as the carnival now moves onto the state of Chhattisgarh for today’s encounter between Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors. Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur is a newly-built stadium, complete with modern world-class facilities, having a capacity of around 65000. The stadium will host it’s first-ever IPL match today and is officially Delhi’s home ground for two matches including the one today.
Fresh from a bitter defeat at the hands of Kings XI, Delhi Daredevils’ losing woes have returned to haunt them again after a convincing win over Mumbai Indians, which is their only win in this season so far. The failure of Mahela Jayawardene and Virender Sehwag at the top once again proved to be the nail in the coffin as the hapless Delhi Daredevils could manage only a mere 120 despite a reasonable innings of 40 by David Warner against Punjab. Now they are up against their companions at the bottom, Pune Warriors India, who are still recovering from the Gayle nightmare. This might prove to be a great opportunity for Jayawardene’s side as Pune has not been that threatening, barring a few surprises here and there.
Mahela Jayawardene, Virender Sehwag and David Warner again have to take up the responsibility of providing some firepower at the top, especially citing the jittery bowling form of Pune bowlers comprising of Ashok Dinda, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Mitchell Marsh and Rahul Sharma. Delhi’s bowling also has not been in good shape, barring some rare good performances. Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra are proving to be expensive in almost every game. Umesh Yadav has bowled reasonably well for them and has to take up the responsibility of leading the pace battery today. Rudolph van der Merwe and Johan Botha bowled economic spells in the last game and are expected to lead the spin department. Not to mention, they should be wary of the big hitting capabilities of Pune skipper Aaron Finch and Yuvraj Singh by now. However, the selection of the Delhi players will depend on the conditions at the stadium, which are unknown as no competitive match has been played at the venue before.
Delhi Daredevils are languishing in the 9th spot on the points table with only one win out of their 8 games so far. However, Pune Warriors also have nothing to smile about as they are placed just above Delhi in the 8th spot with only 2 wins.
Conditions:
Conditions here are quite unknown with the stadium hosting it’s first-ever IPL game. However, with a capacity of 65000 and the IPL going to the city of Raipur for the first time, the stands are expected to be full, guaranteeing an electrifying atmosphere for sure.
Head to Head:
According to head-to-head records, Delhi hold a slight edge over Pune winning 2 out of the the 4 games played between them combining all the seasons. Pune Warriors won one game with one being a no result.
Key Players:
Virender Sehwag- Most teams tend to fear this devastating right-hander when he is at his blistering best. If he manages to stay at the crease for at least 10 overs, it might be all over for the Pune side. He is expected to open the batting with skipper Mahela Jayawardene.
David Warner- This swashbuckling Australian batsman has been consistently among the runs for Delhi Daredevils. He is expected to provide some momentum in the middle overs and be there till the end.
DD’s strategy:
It’s a new stadium with unknown conditions and an unknown pitch. However, they should look to explore the conditions by bowling first if they win the toss. This could put the Pune Warriors in a completely unknown territory. Otherwise, if they manage to read the conditions well before the game, they could bat first and put a formidable total on the scoreboard.
Possible XI:
The team combination will probably depend on the conditions there. But their poor run in this season has left them with lack of options. They might try Morne Morkel today and see if the tall pacer could change their fortunes.
Virender Sehwag, Mahela Jayawardene(c), David Warner, M Juneja, Kedar Jadhav(wk), Rudolph van der Merwe, Irfan Pathan, Johan Botha/Morne Morkel, Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra/Shahbaz Nadeem and Umesh Yadav.