Press Trust of India / Johannesburg May 01, 2009, 14:03 IST
Having got their campaign back on track, Delhi Daredevils will be eyeing their sixth victory while a rejuvenated Chennai Super Kings will be out for revenge in tomorrow's Indian Premier League match here.
The Delhi team's winning streak came to a halt after defending champions Rajasthan Royals inflicted a five-wicket mauling on Tuesday, but the Virender Sehwag-led side shrugged it off to thump Deccan Chargers by six wickets yesterday.
With eight points from five matches the Delhi outfit second in the table and behind table toppers Deccan Chargers on net run rate.
Last year's runners-up Chennai Super Kings, meanwhile, has had a slow start but is slowly picking up steam.
Buoyed by Suresh Raina's 55-ball 98, they hammered Rajasthan Royals by 38 runs and have now climbed from second last to fifth place in the charts with five points from six outings.
And now they would be aiming to improve their standings further while exacting revenge on the Delhi side to whom they went down by nine runs in their previous meeting.
But that's easier said than done and though the ominous opening pair of Sehwag Gautam Gambhir have failed to click so far, one good knock and things will fall in place.
Their Sri Lankan import Tillakaratne Dilshan, whose unbeaten 46-ball 52 guided Delhi to victory against Deccan Chargers yesterday, is in sparkling form with South African AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik adding to the strength of the line-up.
Delhi have found a dependable new-ball pair in Australian left-arm paceman Dirk Nannes and India discard Ashish Nehra, who are extending good support to their batting colleagues.
New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori and Pradeep Sangwan will also add to the worry of Chennai's batting order, consisting the likes of Australian Matthew Hayden and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni himself.
In-form Hayden is the leading run getter in this IPL with 216 runs and Chennai will depend a lot on his lusty hitting to get even with Delhi.
After his 98-run heroics against Rajasthan, a lot can be expected from Raina, while S Badrinath and Kiwi all-rounder Jacob Oram will also be there to lend support.
Chennai's Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralithran has so far failed to live upto expectation and the team also lacks penetration in the opening overs.
It will depend on South African speedster Albie Morkel to encash on his home advantage and give early jolts to the Daredevils.
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