Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Delhi Capitals in Delhi. (Source: IPL)An outstanding display with the bat and ball on Friday night helped Delhi Capitals secure a thumping 7-wicket win against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. In their next assignment DC head south where they are all set to play their eighth match of IPL 2019 as they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. The two teams have faced each other on 13 previous occasions wherein Sunrisers Hyderabad have won nine matches while Delhi has registered only four wins.
Team Talk-
The Capitals’ win against KKR saw their experienced players like Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma put in crucial performances to take the team over the line, and Captain Shreyas Iyer believes that his team has the momentum to succeed against SRH.
“The Kolkata game gives us tremendous confidence going into the next match here in Hyderabad. It was a clinical performance from the team against a strong team like KKR. I feel that everyone took responsibility and with each game, our thought process is becoming clearer, and our communication is also improving, which is a great sign for the team,” said skipper Shreyas Iyer.
Speaking on whether the loss against SRH in their home match in Delhi will have an impact on his team, Shreyas said that his team has improved a great deal since that result. “SRH is no doubt a good side with some outstanding players in their ranks, and even though we lost the first leg against them in Delhi, we have moved on from that result and have only gone on to improve in all departments. All the players understand their roles better now and we have shown that in the last couple of matches. We will be going into this match with high spirits and looking for the two points,” he said.
Shreyas added that SRH will be under more pressure to perform as they are playing in front of their home crowd. “It is going to be a home game for them, so the pressure is likely to be more on them to perform and get the two points. However, as for us as a team, our last two results have definitely brought the whole group together, and we are looking to keep the momentum going into this crucial stage of the IPL season,” said Iyer.
The corresponding fixture last season saw SRH win a close encounter by 7-wickets as batting first, Delhi put on 163/5 on the board. Prithvi Shaw’s 65 off 36, combined with Shreyas Iyer’s 44 off 36, led Delhi to a par score on Hyderabad surface as SRH’s Rashid Khan picked up 2 for 23 in his 4 overs. In reply, contributions from Alex Hales (45 off 31), Shikhar Dhawan (33 off 30), Kane Williamson (32* off 30), Manish Pandey (21 off 17) and Yusuf Pathan (27* off 12) led the home side to a 7-wicket win with one ball to spare.
Hyderabad faced back to back defeats in their last two matches and one of the main reasons behind it has been the middle-order collapse. The likes of of Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan have failed to fire in unison.
On the bowling front, the pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma and Siddharth Kaul have been decent while the Afghan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi have also been impressive in the middle overs.
Pitch Report: The pitch in Hyderabad is a typical Indian wicket, dry and breaking up as the summer sets in. But because of dew setting in, the team that wins the toss will no doubt bowl first and look to get their spinners in business early in the game. A score of 160 will be a competitive score.
Squads:
Delhi Capitals Squad- Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Colin Ingram, Chris Morris, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer (c), Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Tewatia, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sandeep Lamichhane, Prithvi Shaw BenchAmit Mishra, Colin Munro, Jalaj Saxena, Trent Boult, Harshal Patel, Hanuma Vihari, Bandaru Ayyappa, Avesh Khan, Nathu Singh, Keemo Paul, Manjot Kalra, Sherfane Rutherford
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad- Yusuf Pathan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (c), David Warner, Siddarth Kaul, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Vijay Shankar, Sandeep Sharma, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan BenchShakib Al Hasan, Martin Guptill, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Kane Williamson, Shahbaz Nadeem, Ricky Bhui, Billy Stanlake, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi, K Khaleel Ahmed, Abhishek Sharma
