Delhi Capitals, who have finally come together to play like ‘Daredevils’, will have to produce another special effort to beat the consistent Chennai Super Kings for the first time this season and make their maiden IPL final on Friday.

It was CSK who denied Delhi a top-two spot in the league standings with a crushing 80-run win at Chepauk and the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side stands in their way again, only stakes are much higher in the Qualifier 2.

The tense win in the Eliminator, set up by their star player Rishabh Pant, at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday night is bound to provide an extra dose of motivation going into the knock-out game at Vizag.

Pant’s 21-ball 49 in a high-pressure game reignited the debate on social media over his non-selection in India’s World Cup squad with former England captain Michael Vaughan saying it was “bonkers” to not have the young-wicket-keeper batsman in the mega event starting May 30. His sensational effort made all the difference in the run-chase but he got out when his team was very close to the finishing line.

Not being able to finish games is one criticism that he has had to deal with repeatedly and there would be no better stage than Qualifier 2 to come up with another match-winning knock and carry his bat through.

Another young gun Prithvi Shaw too played an important innings of 56 and was happy to be back among the runs after low-scores in the previous three innings.

However, the middle order continues to be a cause of concern for DC. New Zealand’s Colin Munro was given an opportunity in place of Colin Ingram but he was all at sea against the SRH spinners and with CSK posing an even greater spin-threat with the likes of Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja, it is unlikely that he will hold on to his position in the XI. Ingram, who hasn’t been at this best, might get his spot back because of his experience.

Ishant Sharma has been among wickets but Trent Boult has not been able to deliver the goods in the absence of Kagiso Rabada. Chris Morris could be brought back in the side in place of Boult. Morris’ batting abilities will also provide depth in the DC middle order.

DC Predicted XI against CSK: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Colin Ingram, 6 Sherfane Rutherford, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Keemo Paul, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Chris Morris, 11 Ishant Sharma

(With agency inputs)

First Published: May 10, 2019 12:00 IST