After playing their first two games in Vishakhapatnam, the Delhi Capitals will be playing their first home game in Delhi, as the side returns to the Arun Jaitley Stadium to take on 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday. The Orange Army registered a dominating win over the Royal Challengers Bengaluru after thrashing their own highest score record in the previous game. Rishabh Pant’s Delhi Capitals, meanwhile, will be boosted with confidence after pulverizing the Gujarat Titans on Wednesday.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad have been on a batting rampage this season with three 200+ scores in the season so far. In their last match against RCB, where they registered the highest-ever total (287/3), their opener, Travis Head, took their bowlers to the cleaners with a sensational ton. Heinrich Klaasen, who was promoted to no.3 considering the brilliant batting conditions, also smashed a brilliant 67 off just 31 deliveries to help SRH break their own record.
2020 runner-ups Delhi Capitals have found the groove after two consecutive wins and hopping to no.6 in the table. In their last match against the Titans, DC bowlers got things underway for their team by dismissing four batters in powerplay. The pace line-up of Mukesh Kumar (3 wickets) and Ishant Sharma (2 wickets) dismantled the Titans’ batting lineup as they silenced the Gujarat crowd, restricting their opponents to their lowest total of 89 runs.
With the SRH batters in fiery form this season, it will be interesting to see how they manage to unleash their sting against the Capitals. With the comeback of Delhi’s opener David Warner still uncertain, the Capitals are likely to feature their young gun Jake Fraser McGurk in the opening duo alongside Prithvi Shaw.
DC likely XI (if batting first)
Jake Fraser McGurk, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Abhishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Shai Hope, Sumit Kumar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar.
DC likely XI (if bowling first)
Jake Fraser McGurk, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Abhishek Porel, Shai Hope, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar
Impact Players options: Khaleel Ahmed, Lizaad Williams, Kumar Kushagra, Abhishek Porel
SRH likely XI (if batting first)
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klassen, Abdul Samad, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande.
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klassen, Abdul Samad, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan.
Impact Players options: T Natarajan, Shahbaz Ahmed, Rahul Tripathi