What

Match 16 of VIVO IPL 2019 will see the Delhi Capitals pitted against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The Delhi Capitals have two wins from four matches. That could have very well been three wins, if only they had not capitulated against Kings XI Punjab at the start of the week. The Delhi Capitals should be hurting about that loss; it is difficult to comprehend how they lost a match from the position of strength they were in. The Delhi Capitals, in pursuit of 167, were cruising at 144 for 3, at which point they lost seven wickets for 8 runs to be bowled out for 152 – 15 runs short of what they needed. It must pain coach Ricky Ponting, advisor Sourav Ganguly, the rest of the support staff and the owners to see the youngsters haven’t learnt from their mistakes. It was only in their previous match against the Kolkata Knight Riders that the loss of Prithvi Shaw’s wicket nearly cost them the match; the match ended in a tie and DC prevailed in the Super Over.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have two wins from their three matches. In their most-recent outing, the Sunrisers decimated Royal Challengers Bangalore. After Jonny Bairstow and David Warner stitched together the highest opening stand in the IPL, and helped themselves to hundreds, the Sunrisers bowled out their opponents for 113 to win by a massive margin of 118 runs.

Hopefully, the Delhi Capitals lads have introspected their performances over the last couple of matches and will put up a better show. It is critical that they win this match – for they hit the road a series of away matches, and will need the confidence of a win to counter opponents in their own backyards. Where Sunrisers are concerned, it will be a case of rinse-and-repeat. It will be interesting to see if the Sunrisers bring back their captain Kane Williamson, who was rested for the previous match. Mohammad Nabi, who did an outstanding job in his first outing this season, will have a role to play against the Delhi Capitals who have three left-handers in their top five.

When

4 April 2019, 8pm IST

Where

Feroze Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi

Previous Match XIs:

Delhi Capitals:Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Colin Ingram, Chris Morris, HanumaVihari, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma.

Protagonists

The need of the hour is quite simple; Delhi Capitals need their players to play more responsibly. The likes of Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant are flamboyant batsmen and can win matches single-handedly. But, they need to start doing that regularly – and for that they need to apply better; they cannot be playing their ‘natural’ game all the time. One expects coach Ricky Ponting and the rest of the backroom staff would have sat the players down and drilled it down that cricket is a team sport, and that players need to play for the team’s cause. Shikhar Dhawan has been consistently getting runs and holding one end; the youngsters in the team need to learn from him.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have been powered by the run machines at the top. David Warner and Jonny Bairstow have nearly been unstoppable; the Aussie-English opening pair has stitched together three consecutive century partnerships. If Warner was the aggressor in the first two matches, Bairstow stepped on the accelerator first in the match against RCB. The secret to their success is that they’re playing with a clear mind; if and when they decide to go after the bowlers – which they do very often, there’s no half-measures. Between them, Warner and Bairstow have scored more than 75% of the runs scored by the Sunrisers’ batsmen.

Kagiso Rabada is the one bowler in the Delhi Capitals line-up capable of causing plenty of damage. The South African has bowled with plenty of pace and if he gets things right, he could run through sides.Among the spin bowlers, keep an eye on the wizardry of Rashid Khan and Sandeep Lamichhane; no matter how much batsmen study videos, they still cannot pick the two leg-spinners.

The form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is an integral member of the Indian ODI team, should have become a concern for a few; the pacer is wicket-less after three matches, and has a poor economy rate of 10.64. Will he be able to find his mojo?

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 12,Delhi Capitals – 4, Sunrisers Hyderabad – 8.

In Delhi: Matches – 4, Delhi Capitals – 1, Sunrisers Hyderabad – 3.

Trivia

Sunrisers Hyderabad have won only one of their last six matches outside Hyderabad.

Sunrisers Hyderabad are the only team to possess an overall scoring rate in excess of ten runs this season; their overall scoring rate this season is 10.38.

The earliest that Sunrisers Hyderabad have lost their first wicket this season is over number 9.4.