Hyderabad: After having begun their campaign well, the Sunrisers have somehow slipped out of the top bracket and are down to the sixth spot. On Sunday night they will go all out to trounce the Delhi Capitals and climb up the IPL points table. Tough ask though as they go into the game on the back of two losses while their opponents barge in with back-to-back wins.
Sunrisers’ last two defeats include a humiliating one at home to Mumbai, against whom they failed to chase a lowly 136 and folded for an embarrassing 96 – their first loss in three games at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium this season.
The Capitals are fresh from a comfortable canter against Kolkata Knight Riders at the iconic Eden, where opener Shikhar Dhawan struck form to hit an unbeaten 97. Shikhar also provides the sub-plot to Sunday’s match — he was with the Sunrisers until last season and moved away in search of Capital gains. It’s show (me the money) time!
Revenge will also be on Delhi minds as they lost at home to the Sunrisers rather tamely 10 days ago — they stumbled to 129 for 8 in 20 overs before Sun sailed past with half the side intact. Now, after heady wins against Bangalore and Kolkata, Caps will be out to block the Sun.
The host bowlers can ill-afford to overlook names such as Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant and skipper Shreyas Iyer in the Delhi batting line-up and would be busy working out plans to get them early. Seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma, Afghan spinners Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan did quite well at the Kotla and would be looking for a repeat in the return game.
On the other side, the Capitals do not appear menacing with the ball. Though quicks Kasigo Rabada and Ishant Sharma should relish bowling on the seam-friendly surface, the support cast seems to be missing.
Well, the hosts have their own batting botches to deal with. Openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow have been in good nick but the middle order of Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan and Deepak Hooda are yet to fire big. It’s time the top-heavy tag slides down a bit and the belly shows it fits the bill as well.
