Fresh from recording two victories on the trot for the first time in IPL 2024, Delhi Capitals will bank on their home support to sustain the momentum when they take on a confident Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital on Saturday.
Delhi Capitals have won three games out of the seven played in IPL 2024 and sit at No 6 in the points table. SRH, on the other hand, are at number 4 having won four games out of the six played this season.
Both teams head to Saturday’s weekend clash after recording comprehensive victories in their respective previous games. While Delhi Capitals dished out a clinical performance to thrash Gujarat Titans by six wickets in Ahmedabad, the Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 25 runs in Bengaluru.
In their previous game, Delhi Capitals banked on a brilliant bowling performance to skittle the Titans out for 89 runs and later chased down the target in just 8.5 overs. Delhi’s batting has been bolstered since the introduction of Jake Fraser-McGurk to the top order while skipper Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw have been delivering with the bat as well. Tristan Stubbs and Abhishek Porel also add a proper balance to the team.
DC, however, will be concerned with the form and fitness of David Warner who missed the previous game due to a finger injury.
In the bowling department, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav have been impressive in the spin bowling department whereas the Indian trio of Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed has been the stand-out performers in their recent wins.
On the other hand, the Sunrisers batters will look to put up another 200-plus total on the board. Sunrisers Hyderabad have set a different template altogether with two of the highest-ever totals of 277/3 and 287/3, and as such the visiting batters will be eager to cash on to the batting friendly conditions at the Kotla.
The SRH batting line-up has been firing on all cylinders from start to finish, led by Travis Head at the top and Heinrich Klaasen at the back end of the innings. Together, they’ve accounted for five of the eight fifty-plus scores by Sunrisers in this edition so far, and the team will be hoping they continue punishing the opposition bowlers.
Head (235 runs) will be keen to build on his 39-ball century and his opening partner Abhishek Sharma (211 runs) has shown his brute power with the bat in hand. The SRH opening combo’s intimidating strike rates will pose a serious challenge for the Capitals’ pace trio during the powerplay. Adding to that, Aiden Markram, and Klaasen have the power to clear the fence at will, and their late order blitzkriegs have often added meat to the Sunrisers’ totals.
On the bowling front, the Sunrisers Hyderabad, though, will be keen to tighten their screws, after almost letting RCB get close despite posting a mammoth total in their last match. Skipper Pat Cummins (9 wickets and economy of 7.87) and T Natarajan (6 wickets and economy of 9.43) have been impressive but will need support from the rest of the bowling unit, including the seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar to sustain the winning momentum.