A less than a week ago, Delhi Daredevils (DD) and Gujarat Lions (GL) had met in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017. The scenario of points table was different, perhaps less complicated. The Lions were out of contention for playoffs. All they had to do was inflict enigma for the Daredevils who were racing against time. The seniors Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik, playing for pride, scored fifties and posted a daunting target of 209. In a quest for that, the Daredevils lost stand-in captain Karun Nair early. That, or the tension of qualifying for the penultimate stage, did not take any toll on Rishabh Pant. Along with Sanju Samson, he added 144 for the second wicket and attained victory with 2.3 overs to spare.
All the same, the Daredevils lost the next game to Mumbai Indians and thus quashed their dreams to lift the 2017 title. Nonetheless, this T20 spectacle is not yet over for these two teams. They will lock horns in match 50 at Kanpur in an inconsequential game.
Players to watch out for
Pant’s journey this season has been an amalgamation of incredible highs and absolute lows. He has two swashbuckling, match-changing fifties and three ducks, coupled with short cameos. The armchair fanatics, without a shadow of doubt, would want him to garner a reminiscence of his spectacular 97 in Daredevils’ last contest against the Lions.
Samson, too, had a great time in the same contest. His 31-ball 61 was even more attractive than Pant’s dashing knock.
The maverick Zaheer Khan missed 3 games due to hamstring injury. Otherwise, he has not had the best of seasons. Barring a 3 for 20, he struggled to cast magic with his rather perfect bowling. With 3 more games to be played, the 38-year-old will look to make amends and end it on a high.
This will be the first time Suresh Raina will not feature in the playoffs. The highest run-scorer of IPL has scored 424 runs at 48.22, his best average in all seasons.
Ishan Kishan has been one of the emerging players in this edition. A versatile batsman, Kishan has been athletic on the field as well, catching blinders. The teenager will open yet again with the veteran Dwayne Smith.
Key battles
Samson is a fine timer of the ball, no second thoughts there. However, take the pace off it and he struggles to maintain his strike rate. Ravindra Jadeja and Raina (if he decides to roll his arm over) will be handy against Samson. In addition, attacking with spin right away will put Samson in further trouble. There is leg-spinner Ankit Soni in their armoury as well.
Corey Anderson has been unstoppable of late, batting at an average of 32.5. Given Anderson will play in the middle overs, Raina will have to employ James Faulkner and outfox him with change-in-pace deliveries.
Who would not want to see Raina vs Mohammed Shami? However, for that, Zaheer will have to smartly invest Shami’s overs, as Raina bats one-down. With Raina’s major chink in the armour being tackling the short ball, Shami will entertain him with chin music.
Playing XI
In the absence of injured Brendon McCullum, the Lions had promoted Kishan at the opening slot. In addition, it came as a surprise when Dinesh Karthik played ahead of Aaron Finch, at No. 4. That, for that matter, worked in their favour. Karthik scored an unbeaten 35. Be that as it may. Finch is more effective when the ball is new. Hence, the Lions may have to rethink about the batting positions.
In the last few matches, Basil Thampi has been struggling to keep a lid on the runs. In this edition, his economy reads over 9 RPO. On the other hand, the experienced Praveen Kumar got a nod in only 5 matches. Now that they have nothing much to play for, the Lions may as well prefer Praveen ahead of Thampi.
Otherwise, the Lions are likely to play the same team.
Likely XI for Gujarat Lions: Dwayne Smith, Ishan Kishan, Suresh Raina (c), Aaron Finch, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pradeep Sangwan, Praveen Kumar, Ankit Soni
Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, and Angelo Mathews have left to prepare for ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
Though Mathews played a mere 3 matches, the Daredevils will have a headache replacing choosing two other foreign players from the squad.
Brathwaite, who played only a match this season is a like-for-like replacement for the all-rounder Morris, while Marlon Samuels should be promoted up the order.
Likely XI for Delhi Daredevils: Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Corey Anderson, Marlon Samuels, Carlos Brathwaite, Patt Cummins, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan
Predictions
Both teams have locked horns in 3 games, with the Daredevils leading 2-1. All in all, both teams have nothing to lose now. A victory will only boost their morale and a personal milestone will better their CVs.
Squads
Gujarat Lions: Suresh Raina (c), Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, Andrew Tye, Ishan Kishan, Pradeep Sangwan, Shivil Kaushik, Shadab Jakati, Jaydev Shah. Jason Roy, Basil Thampi, Manpreet Gony, Shubham Agarwal, Tejas Singh Baroka, Chirag Suri, Pratham Singh, Shelley Shaurya
Delhi Daredevils: Zaheer Khan (c), Mohammed Shami, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Sam Billings (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Chris Morris, Carlos Brathwaite, Karun Nair, Chama Milind, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Pratyush Singh, Aditya Tare (wk), Ankit Bawne, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Navdeep Saini, Murugan Ashwin, Shashank Singh, Corey Anderson, Rishabh Pant (wk)
TIME: 14.30 GMT | 20.00 IST
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