What

The Delhi Daredevils will clash with the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 45 of Pepsi IPL 2015. DD have eight points from 11 matches and lie in the bottom half of the table, while SRH have ten points from as many matches and are contenders for a Playoff spot.

DD have blown hot and cold and have failed to string together a series of wins. DD’s chances of making the playoff are very slim - for they can only get to a maximum of 14 points even if they win all their matches, which might not be sufficient to carry them forward. Though they have finished on the wrong side of the result in each of their last three matches, DD will be confident of doing well in this contest knowing they have already defeated SRH once earlier this season.

SRH have started to find some momentum after a poor start to the season. The middle order was identified as an area of concern for SRH, but those concerns were addressed in their previous match against the Rajasthan Royals – in some style too – when Eoin Morgan blazed his way to 63 from 28 balls. After winning just two of their first six matches, SRH have won three of their next four matches and are now strong contenders for a Playoff spot.

When

09 May 2015, 8p.m. IST

Where

Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium, Raipur

The Protagonists

On the batting front, a lot will ride on the shoulders of the left-handers on both sides. Delhi Daredevils will look towards JP Duminy and Yuvraj Singh to do the bulk of the run-scoring, while SRH will look towards their opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner, and from Eoin Morgan, who announced himself in Pepsi IPL 2015 in the previous match, to score the bulk of the runs.

On the bowling front, quick bowlers have had plenty of success in previous matches in Raipur. Hence, both teams will look towards their quick bowlers to provide them strikes consistently. SRH’s Trent Boult will have fond memories of playing at this venue; in five T20 matches at the venue (in the CLT20 2014), he picked up 6 wickets and conceded runs at an economy rate of 6.19. DD will look towards Zaheer Khan to pick up wickets early on. DD’s two leg-spinners – Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir – bring a lot of flavour and certainly give their captain wicket-taking options.

Contests to look-forward to

In his short career, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has established a reputation of being a very good bowler against left-hand batsmen; it is not often that you see a bowler having almost an equal spread of his wickets in international cricket between right-hand batsmen and left-hand batsmen. In Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s case, off his 86 international scalps, 46 are of right-hand batsmen, and 40 are of left-handers. In the DD lineup, the SRH bowler will come up against two very experienced left-handers - JP Duminy and Yuvraj Singh. How he fares against the two experienced batsmen could make for interesting viewing.

The other contest to look forward to is between the two DD leg-spinners - Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir – bowling to the three left-handers in the SRH ranks – David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan and Eoin Morgan.

Previous Meetings

Prior to this season, the Delhi Daredevils had a woeful record against the Sunrisers Hyderabad; the latter had won each of the four matches between the two teams prior to this season.

However, in the first meeting between the two teams earlier this season, DD scored their first win over SRH when they scored 167 riding on the back of half-centuries by Shreyas Iyer and captain JP Duminy, and then restricted their opponents to five runs short. JP Duminy, who scored 54 with the bat, had the complete day, picking up four wickets for 17 runs when it was his team’s turn to bowl.

Trivia

The Delhi Daredevils have a 100% record in IPL matches in Raipur; they have won both the matches played at the venue previously.

SRH captain David Warner will have fond memories of playing in Raipur; in his two previous outings at the venue – when playing for the Delhi Daredevils in 2013 – he scored half-centuries and won the Man of the Match awards on both occasions. The left-hander has scored 117 runs and is yet to be dismissed in two innings in Raipur.

The SRH captain David Warner has won only two tosses this season.

What Next

Delhi Daredevils’ next fixture: Vs. Chennai Super Kings in Raipur, 12 May 2015, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s next fixture: Vs. Kings XI Punjab in Raipur, 11 May 2015