So far the Deccan Chargers have defeated the
Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings and will be looking to do the same to the Delhi Daredevils today. The Chargers have looked the most balanced team in terms of composition and consistency so far.
Their batting is firing every time and their bowling is also clicking. Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist are showing the younger lot how the game is played with their power hitting with out of sight strike rates and by their more measured, well paced innings when the need of the hour was such. Rohit Sharma is also in good nick but former skipper VVS Laxman continues to disappoint. It isn’t just the batsmen that have enjoyed good form, the bowlers, such as R P Singh, Fidel Edwards and Pragyan Ojha have also done a mighty fine job for the team.
The Delhi team will be looking to come back with a win today after being defeated by the Rajasthan Royals in their last match. Though the opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and skipper Virender Sehwag made a dashing good start in their first match when they won against the Kings XI by 10 wickets, they have not kept up the momentum. These two will most certainly have to fire today if they are to have any chance at winning today’s game against the Chargers who have looked undefeatable so far. What may also be a slight worry for the team is their bowling that seems to have lacked penetration so far, although it has been fairly competent.
As for the team composition, it is unlikely that the Hyderabad team will want to disturb a winning combination and may keep the same team composition as the last match. The Delhi team on the other hand may decide to bring in Glenn McGrath or perhaps Paul Collingwood, both of whom have not yet played. But then it may not be great idea to leave out Tillakaratne Dilshan or AB de Villiers who have made match winning contributions to the team so far.
In last year’s IPL tournament, the two sides had played twice against one another and on both occasions the Delhi Daredevils had won.
