The Delhi Daredevils (DD) will take on Pune Warriors India (PWI) at Chhattisgarh International Cricket Stadium, Raipur on Sunday. It is their first meeting in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013.
Overview:
Both the teams have not performed well this season with DD lying at the floor of the table and PWI positioned just a place above. They lost their respective previous matches.
DD have only two points on the table, winning only one of the eight games played so far. They registered their first win against Mumbai Indians but lost to Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in the nest game. They need to gather all their strength and win the remaining games to stay in the contention for the title.
PWI have four points on the table, winning just two of the eight games played so far. They lost the last three matches, conceding a 130-run defeat to Royal Challenger Bangalore in the previous game. They will be keen to win on Sunday and the upcoming matches to stay in the competition.
Prediction:
It can be anybody's game on Sunday. Both the teams have explosive batsmen whose performances are not consistent this season. Chhattisgarh International Cricket Stadium is relative new and the condition of the pitch is not known yet. But considering their performance this season, PWI have bigger chance to win on Sunday.
Team News:
Delhi Daredevils: Skipper Mahela Jayawardena, Virender Sehwag and David Warner need to give the team a good start and open up avenues for Roelof Van Der Merwe, Manprit Juneja and others to play their natural game. The inconsistency of the top-order is the biggest worry of the team, and they need to do away with it.
On the bowling front, they have Umesh Yadav, Irfan Pathan, Morne Morkel, Ashish Nehra, Johan Botha, Siddarth Kaul and Shahbaz Nadeem. Their performance hasn't been good so far. They need to pull up their socks and take early wickets.
Pune Warriors India: Robin Uthappa, who failed in the previous game after putting up a good show this season, need to give the team a good start along with in-form opener Aaron Finch. Steven Smith scored 41 from 31 balls in the previous match but Yuvraj Singh and Luke Wright failed. Ross Taylor, who was known for explosive shots, has been made to warm the bench due to lack of form. The batsmen need to put up a big total and help the team win the upcoming matches.
In the bowling department, they have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Mitchell Marsh, Abhishek Nayar, Rahul Sharma and Ajantha Mendis. Their performance has become a matter of worry. RCB demoralized them in the previous game by scoring 263 runs, the highest total this season.
SQUADS:
Delhi Daredevils: Mahela Jayawardene (c), Ajit Agarkar, Andre Russell, Arisht Singhvi, Ashish Nehra, CM Gautam, David Warner, Gulam Bodi, Irfan Pathan, Jeevan Mendis, Johan Botha, Kedar Jadhav, Manpreet Juneja, Morne Morkel, Naman Ojha, Pawan Negi, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Royston Dias, Siddarth Kaul, Sujit Nayak, Shahbaz Nadeem, Umesh Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Venugopal Rao, Virender Sehwag, Yogesh Nagar
Pune Warriors India: Angelo Mathews (c), Aaron Finch, Abhishek Nayar, Ajantha Mendis, Ali Murtaza, Anustup Majumdar, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dheeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Harpreet Singh, Ishwar Pandey, Kane Richardson, Krishnakant Upadhyay, Luke Wright, Mahesh Rawat, Manish Pandey, Marlon Samuels, Mitchell Marsh, Mithun Manhas, Parveez Rasool, Rahul Sharma, Raiphi Gomez, Robin Uthappa, Ross Taylor, Shrikant Wagh, Steve Smith, Tirumalasetti Suman, Tamim Iqbal, Udit Birla, Yuvraj Singh, Wayne Parnell
Where to watch Live
The match will begin at 8:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
