The Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals meet at Delhi’s den-the Firoz Shah Kotla, in match number 32 of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League. While DD have 2 wins from 8 games, the Rajasthan have one win more in the 7 matches that they have featured in. However, both have faced defeats in their previous encounters.
DD were outdone by a Shane Watson show which was given the finishing touches by skipper MS Dhoni against the Chennai Super Kings. Although Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar helped DD come close to the target, they do have a few issues to address in their squad. DD have been over reliant on Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer and their star batsman Glenn Maxwell hasn’t really performed as per reputation.
RR, on other hand, failed to chase down a modest looking 150 odd runs against the Sunrisers Hyderabad even when they had a settled Ajinkya Rahane during the death overs. RR managed very few boundaries in the last 5 overs and failed to cross the line in front of the best bowling attack in the tournament.
RR have all that it takes to win but somehow have found ways to lose the game. Big names like Ben Stokes have not looked in touch and pacers like Jaydev Unadkat have failed to deliver when it has mattered the most. Both RR and DD now need to produce their top level game on Wednesday, at a time of the tournament where things are getting more and more intense with every passing game.
DD cannot afford to lose from here while RR would not like to give away anything to the opposition either.
Iyer and Pant are very important for Delhi’s performance in the game tonight, while Prithvi Shaw could be crucial too who has shown promise in the limited opportunities so far. It is high time that big names involved in tonight’s match like Maxwell, Stokes and Buttler perform and repay the faith shown in them by their respective franchise.
Ajinkya Rahane and young Sanju Samson have been consistent for the Royals and RR would expect more of such healthy contributions from them tonight at Delhi.
As far as bowling is concerned Trent Boult has been impressive for DD and has picked up wickets in all Delhi games except the last one against the Chennai Super Kings and Boult would be desperate to get back amidst the wickets. Pacer Avesh Khan who bowled a good spell against CSK could be an X factor tonight.
Jofra Archer has been brilliant and has a couple of 3 wicket hauls in just the 2 games that he has played. Along with Archer, Karnataka all-rounder K Gowtham has also done a commendable job with the ball especially in the power play overs and captain Rahane has been using him really well in the tournament so far.
Another great battle is on the cards tonight from the Feroz Shah Kotla. Broadcast Starts at 20:00 Hours (IST).
