Sunrisers Hyderabad clearly failed to live up to expectations and take advantage of playing at ‘home’ in Thursday’s match against Rajasthan Royals. But, it can still hope to redeem itself when it takes on Delhi Daredevils at the Dr. YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Saturday.
With both teams having just one win from three games, it should be, in a way, a battle between equals.
For SRH, the onus is again on captain David Warner and his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan. When the two failed against Royals, the rest fumbled. K.L. Rahul, Naman Ojha, Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara are certainly much better players than what their performances suggest.
Coach Tom Moody spoke about consolidating through the ‘small window’ provided by virtue of three consecutive ‘home games’. But, his batsmen looked the other way in the first game. And, Saturday’s game will be a fine opportunity to make amends quickly and regain the winning momentum.
The SRH bowling cannot not be faulted for the defeat to Royals, for it had to defend a very low score of 127 on a pitch which played true and fast. The same conditions are likely to prevail on Saturday.
However, Sunrisers can take heart from the fine performance by slow medium-pacer Ravi Bopara and leggie Karn Sharma in the middle overs even as the pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar bowled their heart out.
Tough choice “Unfortunately, Steyn has not played so far as only four overseas players can figure in the eleven. We have to go with the best combination and better balance of the team. It will be disappointing for Steyn because he is a world-class bowler and a top performer. It is a tough choice between Boult and Steyn,” SRH mentor V.V.S. Laxman remarked after Royals’ game.
“We will be quite positive against Delhi though they should be confident after their win in the last game. We want to be more clinical and professional,” he said.
Daredevils have seasoned campaigners in captain Jean-Paul Duminy, all-rounder Angelo Mathews, Yuvraj Singh, Mayank Agarwal and Kedar Jhadav. And, their confidence must be high after the win over Kings XI Punjab, its first in the last 12 games.
In the bowling departmen, DD has the rare privilege of a very successful combine of two leggies — Amit Mishra, who played for SRH last season, and Imran Tahir — backing fast bowlers Nathan Coulter-Nile and Dominic Joseph.
But, the focus will be on Yuvraj Singh, who in the company of an equally belligerent Mayank Agarwal, fashioned the big win against Punjab.
