The last time the Gujarat Lions (GL) and Delhi Daredevils (DD) met in the IPL 2016, there was a nail-biting finish, courtesy a blistering knock of 82 runs from just 32 balls from Chris Morris. The match went down to the wire with Morris almost finishing it off for the Daredevils.
The Daredevils lost that match by a solitary run and they will want to win the reverse fixture at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot on Monday.
If the Zaheer Khan-led Daredevils manage to beat the Gujarat Lions, they will climb up to second spot in the IPL 2016 points table.
Here's a look at how the match at Rajkot between Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils could go:
If Gujarat Lions bat first: Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum are off to a flier. Both batsmen go hammer and tongs as the Daredevils bowlers look clueless over how to stop the run flow. Zaheer Khan brings in Amit Mishra, and the legspinner dismisses the openers. In spite of that, the runs continue to flow as captain Suresh Raina and Aaron Finch bat well in tandem. At the end of the 20 overs, the Gujarat Lions reach a total of 190. Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja hit some useful boundaries and sixes towards the end to help their side post a challenging total.
Mayank Agarwal and Quinton de Kock get off to a decent start. They do not lose a wicket inside the powerplay. But Ravindra Jadeja and Shivil Kaushik start troubling these two batsmen, until De Kock falls prey to the spinners making way for last Sanju Samson. Samson and Agarwal put their feet on the accelerator in order to catch up with the required run rate, but they throw their wickets away. Carlos Brathwaite and Sam Billings come out in the middle and waste no time in finding those crucial boundaries. They bring the Daredevils closer to the target, but Praveen Kumar knocks off Brathwaite with a brilliant yorker. Morris comes out in the middle with DD requiring 22 runs from the last 13 balls. Billings and Morris bring the Daredevils home with four balls to spare.
If Delhi Daredevils bat first: Quinton de Kock enters the wham-bam mode and starts smashing all the bowlers. Mayank Agarwal plays a sensible knock as he is gives most of the strike to De Kock. The Daredevils reach 60 runs in the first six overs without losing a wicket. Kaushik deceives De Kock and is stumped. Sam Billings is promoted up the order. Billings and Agarwal steady the innings, but the run flow is slowed down by the spinners. With four over to go, DD are on 125 runs. Brathwaite and Morris take the Daredevils to a total of 170, with some meaty blows towards the end.
Smith and McCullum gets off to a very good start. The pitch has become easier to bat in the second innings as the ball is coming nicely on to the bat. McCullum mistimes one and the ball goes straight up in the air with De Kock taking the catch. Suresh Raina is stumped off the very first ball and all of a sudden the Gujarat Lions are in a spot of bother. Amit Mishra is causing a lot of problems with his variations. But, Aaron Finch, who started IPL 2016 with three back-to-back fifties, plays a sensible knock alongside Smith to power the Lions to their seventh victory of the season, with three balls to spare.
