What

The Delhi Daredevils will come up against Rising Pune Supergiants for the first time when the team teams take the field in Match 33 of VIVO IPL 2016.

The fortunes of the two teams are in stark contrast to each other. The Daredevils sit in the top half of the table with five wins from seven outings, while RPS are placed in the bottom half with two wins from eight matches.

In their most-recent outing, the Daredevils on Tuesday night toppled the Gujarat Lions. The team were clinical in their performance – with both bat and ball. Poor starts had plagued the Daredevils for most part of the season. But the team applied a fix to that in the previous match; the bowlers picked up three wickets in the Powerplay overs, and when it was their turn to bat, the left-handed opening pair of Quinton de Kock and Rishabh Pant got the team off to a rollicking start adding 61 in the first six overs. Zaheer Khan’s astute leadership, his planning, the team’s execution, body language and energy levels have been impressive in most games and that certainly augurs well for the young team.

RPS captain MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming have more than a handful to address. The team has now lost all four of their first-choice overseas players – Faf du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen, Mitchell Marsha and now most-recently Steve Smith. The team have found able replacements in Usman Khawaja and George Bailey. The other worry for RPS surrounds the form of their bowlers, who have struggled to contain the opposition; the team has lost all five of their matches batting first – this despite setting targets in excess of 160 on three occasions.

When

5 May 2016, 2000 Hrs IST

Where

Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi

Weather

Temperature: Max 34°c, Min 31°c
Humidity: Max 35%
Wind: 6kmph

The Protagonists

Delhi Daredevils have finally found an answer to their opening partnership woes; Quinton de Kock and Rishabh Pant were involved in a 115-run opening stand – which was nearly twice the aggregate of their opening partnership in the earlier six matches. de Kock also showed signs of application, which augurs well for the team. How much damage Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra and Chris Morris cause in their twelve overs will also have a huge say in which way the match pans out.

Usman Khawaja is expected to slot in as Ajinkya Rahane’s opening partner. The Australian has been in good form in recent times, and RPS will hope he can compensate for the void created by the injuries to Faf du Plessis and Steve Smith. MS Dhoni has excelled in the role of finisher, but in a team that lacks too much experience in the top half, he should perhaps walk out to bat at number four, or at the first possible chance a wicket falls after the 10-over mark. The quick bowlers also need to figure out a strategy to keep the runs down; collectively, the RPS quicks have conceded at the rate of 8.36 runs per over. It is in this context that the role played by the two Ashwins becomes critical. Murugan Ashwin picked up six wickets in his first three outings, but thereafter has only added one more wicket to his tally in the following five matches. The team needs him, and his namesake – the established Ravichandran Ashwin (who has picked up only 3 wickets) to start doing more damage.

Trivia

The Delhi Daredevils have five wins from their seven matches so far this season. Their performance is in stark contrast to their results in the previous three seasons. In 2015, they won five matches in 14 matches, in 2014 they won only two matches in 14 and in the year before that they won only 3 of their 16 fixtures.

The Delhi Daredevils have won three of their four run-chases so far this season; the only time they fell short was by 1 run in the match against the Gujarat Lions.

RPS and DD have the two-best economy rates in the middle overs period in VIVO IPL 2016; RPS’ economy rate between overs 7 & 15 is 6.75, while DD’s economy rate is 7.05.

The fewest wins MS Dhoni has had as a captain in a particular IPL season is 8 (2009 & 2010, when his former team played 13 & 14 matches each).

RPS have won 2 of their 3 run-chases this season. But they’re yet to post a win in the five occasions they’ve batted first.

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