Hyderabad test for Delhi

It's table-toppers versus bottom-placeholders here on Thursday at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium as the visibly shaken Delhi Daredevils host a Sunrisers Hyderabad side who are determined to extend their lead at the top of the league table.

The encounter will be a rematch of the two sides' previous meeting on May 5, which had ended in Hyderabad's favor after the clinical battle, came to an end in the final over.

This time around, the home side would be keen to leave no margin for error at the deliverance of a strong opposition, while the visitors would be arriving with a clearly confident edge on the shaky spirits of their opponents.

In their last meeting with the Sunrisers, Delhi had posted a target of 163 runs before the Hyderabad franchise, courtesy of young Prithvi Shaw's 65-run knock.

However, they had failed to defend 28 runs across the last two overs on account of two dropped catches which would have dismissed Sunrisers opener Alex Hales and Yusuf Pathan, who eventually lead then hosts to victory in the end.

The sloppiness in fielding cost Daredevils the match as Sunrisers eventually overcame the target with Yusuf Pathan's 27 off 12 balls.

Nevertheless, Delhi will choose to remain optimistic in the face of adversity owing to the blistering form of captain Shreyas Iyer, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and opener Prithvi Shaw.

So far, Pant leads the run-scoring chart for Delhi with 393 runs from 10 games, while Iyer has recorded a total of 351 runs in 10 matches to his tally.

India's under-19 World Cup winning captain Shaw has scored 205 runs across five innings with two fifty plus scores.

Moreover, the Feroz Shah Kotla has been a high-scoring venue for the young trio.

They will also be oozing with confidence after their inclusion in the India (Iyer) and India A (Shaw, Pant) sides for forthcoming the United Kingdom series.

However, Glen Maxwell has been a major cause of worry for the Delhi side of late.

The Australian all-rounder has yet to do justice to his destructive reputation, after having recorded just 133 runs and having claimed 5 wickets in the nine games he has so far featured in.

Thursday could be another opportunity for him to express himself on the pitch in a much better way, or we could be seeing Colin Munro open the innings with Shaw.

As for the Sunrisers, they have little to worry about.

Captain Kane Williamson has come out all guns blazing for Hyderabad, recording a total of 410 runs in 10 matches, and is currently fourth in the race for the most runs scored in the tournament.

While their bowling attack led by Rashid Khan is doing a pretty fantastic job as the pair of Rashid and Shakib are creating a riot with their spin.

Sidharth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma are leaving no chance to make their presence felt in each game they have featured.