Daredevils look to breach Sunrisers fortress in battle of the ball

Match facts

Sunrisers Hyderabad v Delhi Daredevils
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Start time 2000 IST (1430 GMT)

Zaheer Khan’s Daredevils team has been the most prolific bowling outfit this season © BCCI

Head to head

Last season: Daredevils beat Sunrisers in both matches they played last season. They were the only team Sunrisers didn’t beat during their title campaign.
Overall: Sunrisers Hyderabad lead 5-3 on wins overall against Delhi Daredevils. At this venue, the teams have both beaten each other once.

In the news

Corey Anderson made way for Angelo Mathews in the last match because he was unwell. The New Zealand allrounder had won the Man-of-the-Match award in Daredevils’ previous win against Kings XI Punjab. If he is back to full fitness, we might see a reverse-swap.

Likely XIs

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 David Warner (capt), 3 Moises Henriques/Kane Williamson, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Mohammad Nabi/Bipul Sharma, 8 Siddarth Kaul, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Rashid Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra/ B Sran/ Mustafizur Rahman
Delhi Daredevils: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Sam Billings, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Karun Nair, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Angelo Mathews/Corey Anderson, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Zaheer Khan (capt), 11 Mohammed Shami/Shahbaz Nadeem

Strategy punt

– Sanju Samson has scored 125 runs against pace at a strike-rate of 176.05 this season. In contrast, he has scored only 48 runs off 47 balls against spinners. Sunrisers legspinner Rashid Khan has taken eight of his nine wickets this season in the first half of the innings. Four of those are inside the Powerplay. We could see him bowl early in the match as Sunrisers look to stop Samson’s destructive form in the Powerplay.

– Daredevils might perform another reverse-swap in their XI to bring back Shahbaz Nadeem in place of Mohammed Shami. He will better suit the conditions in Hyderabad.

Stats that matter

  • Sunrisers (39) and Daredevils (33) are among the top teams on the table for most wickets taken this season. Daredevils’ position is especially impressive considering they have played only four games so far this season
  • Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s ‘worst’ spell this season has been 2 for 27 in the first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Since then, he has conceded fewer than 21 runs in all matches. For further context on his impact – 19 out of his 20 overs this season have been bowled inside the Powerplays or in the slog overs
  • Shikhar Dhawan has the lowest strike-rate among openers to have faced fifty balls this season – 112.50. The next lowest is Parthiv Patel’s 121.33
  • Daredevils have been the most effective bowling side this season – 20 of the 26 wickets they’ve taken are top-order wickets, at an average of 17.50 and an economy of 7.31
  • Dhawan has managed only 43 runs off 42 balls against Zaheer Khan across IPL seasons, and has been dismissed by him on four occasions
  • The match against Kings XI on Monday was the first occasion in this season when Rashid Khan did not get a wicket off his first over of a spell
  • Sunrisers have not lost a single game at home this season

Varun Shetty is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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