IPL: Hyderabad eyeing to cement play-off berth vs Delhi (Preview)

Table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be aiming to cement their play-off berth when they take on a struggling Delhi Daredevils (DD) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, here on Saturday.

With six wins from eight games and 12 points in their kitty, Hyderabad boasts of one of the best bowling attacks in the ongoing IPL season.

Delhi, on the other hand, has managed to carve out just three wins from nine games and are placed at the sixth place in points table.

Skipper Williamson has carried Hyderabad's batting on his shoulders, amassing 322 runs from eight innings with an average of 46.

However, Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha have not given the required support to Hyderabad's batting.

Saha has been poor with the bat with just 79 runs from seven games while Dhawan has been a bit better with 152 runs from seven innings.

Yusuf Pathan has also failed to fire on several occassions, a thing which he is known for.

Hyderabad's strength mostly relies on their bowlers, who didn't let Bhuvneshwar Kumar's absence felt in last few matches as the medium-pacer is suffering a back injury.

Williamson is however, hopeful that Bhuvneshwar will be fit for the game against Delhi.

The side has succeeded in defending low totals as they bundled out formidable Kings XI Punjab for just 119 in 19.2 overs while defending a target of 132.

Earlier, while defending a modest target of 152, SRH bowlers restricted Rajasthan Royals' chase at 140.

Spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan have bagged eight and 10 wickets each from eight games while medium pacer Siddarth Kaul has been the most impressive with 11 wickets from eight games.

Another medium pacer, Basil Thampi, who has featured in just three games for Hyderabad, has emerged with clinical shows. The 24-year-old has five scalps.

On the other side, Delhi cannot afford another defeat if they want a play-off berth.

The side has performed well under new skipper Shreyas Iyer as Gautam Gambhir stepped down following Delhi's lacklustre start to the campaign.

In their last clash against Rajasthan, Delhi came out victorious in a rain-affected tie.

Young Prithvi Shaw, Iyer and stumper Rishabh Pant have been Delhi's batting mainstay even as their foreign recruits like Colin Munro and Glenn Maxwell have failed to fire.

While Shaw has 140 runs from four games, Iyer and Pant have amassed 307 and 375 runs respectively from nine games each.

In the bowling unit, pacer Trent Boult has performed well in death overs, claiming 13 wickets from nine games.

However, medium pacers Avesh Khan, Liam Plunkett, and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem need to step up and come out with their best to support Boult.

Overall, it will be an uphill task for Delhi to stop a courageous Hyderabad side on Saturday.

Squad:

Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Rishabh Pant (WK), Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shakib Al Hasan, Kane Williamson (Captain), Manish Pandey, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Rashid Khan, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, T Natarajan, Mohammad Nabi, Basil Thampi, K Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Tanmay Agarwal, Shreevats Goswami, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Alex Hales.

--IANS

kk/tri/vm