Delhi face Maharashtra in a do-or-die battle

Delhi are on the fifth position in group B with 11 points from six matches while Maharashtra, who have eight points from five matches are second last in the nine-team group.

After playing on lifeless tracks at the Feroz Shah Kotla provided by former BCCI chief curator Venkat Sundaram, the Delhi team will be playing at the picturesque Roshanara Club ground which has been known to help fast bowlers during this time of the year.

Just like KSCA prepared a seaming track at the Chinnaswamy during the last game against Delhi, the DDCA has exactly done the same thing for the match against minnows Maharashtra who have also done precious little in their away games.

Kedar Jadhav, who started the season with a triple hundred and then was out of form has got a hundred in the last game against Haryana in Pune. Known as a 'flat-track bully', it will be a big test for the diminutive batsman on a track where the ball is expected to do a lot.

"We don't have an option and we have asked for green top as we need minimum six points from this match in order to stay afloat for a berth in the knock-out stages," chief coach Vijay Dahiya said on the eve of the match.

Although the DDCA chairman of selectors Chetan Chauhan has frantically called up BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale requesting the release of Parvinder Awana from the national squad, the final outcome is yet to be known.

It looks like former Railways paceman Vikas Tokas will be sharing the new ball with Sumit Narwal tomorrow. With Pawan Suyal and Pradeep Sangwan also in the line-up, it could be a four-pronged pace attack for Delhi with Rajat Bhatia coming in handy with military medium stuff.

Tokas has been pretty impressive in the Delhi nets this season and has even been successful in unsettling someone of Virender Sehwag's calibre with pace and bounce.