Preview: M5 - DC vs CSK
What
The Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings, both victorious in their respective season-openers, will faceoff in Match 5 of VIVO IPL 2019.
The Delhi Capitals began their season with a convincing 37-run win over the Mumbai Indians on Sunday night, while the Super Kings were forced to work hard in their chase of 71 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season opener.
Delhi played on a batting paradise at the Wankhede Stadium, while the Super Kings played on a low and slow turner in the season opener. One can expect a fairer surface will be used in this match, and hence both teams will have to adapt to the conditions they are likely to come up against. In addition, Delhi Capitals, who played a match on Sunday night and travelled to Delhi on Monday, will have to recover from the fatigue of their journey and get into match-mode quickly.
One expects a change will be made to the Super Kings playing XI; if the surface is a fair one, there’s a good chance Faf du Plessis could take the place of Imran Tahir. The Delhi Capitals would be considering bringing in Amit Mishra – who did so well last season - into the XI, possibly at the expense of Rahul Tewatia.
When
26 March 2019, 8pm IST
Where
Feroze Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi
Previous Match XIs:
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Colin Ingram, Rishabh Pant, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma.
Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir.
Protagonists
Following his swashbuckling innings in the previous match, the spotlight will continue to remain on Rishabh Pant. The Delhi Capitals wicketkeeper-batsman had a good run on his home ground last season – scoring three half-centuries and a century in seven innings. Shikhar Dhawan played his role to perfection in the opener; in what is largely a young and inexperienced Delhi Capitals line-up, he batted until the 16th over against MI, scoring a patient 36-ball 49.
In the CSK line-up, Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu looked good in the brief while they were at the crease in the opener. Both batsmen need runs and will be aware there’s going to be a lot of eyeballs on them; Rayudu needs a few convincing performances to keep his place in India’s World Cup squad, while Raina is one of the pillars of CSK and he will be aware his performance have a huge bearing on the team’s fortunes.
Among the bowlers, keep an eye on Kagiso Rabada, who bowled a fiery spell in the opener; the South African clocked top-speed of 151kph in Mumbai and he will look to cause grief to the CSK batsmen.
Head to Head in Indian Premier League
Matches – 18, Delhi Capitals won – 6, Chennai Super Kings won - 12
Both teams won their respective home matches last season. Shane Watson (78 of 40 balls) and MS Dhoni (51* of 22 balls) starred in CSK’s win in Pune, while the spin duo of Amit Mishra and Sandeep Lamichhane strangled the visitors in Delhi’s 34-run win at home.
Trivia
Historically, Delhi haven’t fared very well on their home ground; in their avatar as Delhi Daredevils, they had a 27-35 win-loss record at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground.
Amit Mishra has the opportunity to become the second bowler (after Lasith Malinga) to take 50 IPL wickets at a venue; he has 49 wickets from 39 matches at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground.
Suresh Raina averages 26.68 against the Delhi Daredevils – that’s the lowest he averages against any IPL team.