After Mumbai Indians registered a comprehensive victory over Chennai Super Kings to march into the final of IPL 2019 on Tuesday, Wednesday's Eliminator will see the Delhi Capitals taking on the Sunrisers Hyderabad at Visakhapatnam in a do-or-die clash. The losing team will get knocked out of the tournament whereas the winning team will have to prove their mettle once more against Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 2 on Friday to stake their claim on a finale berth.
This has been a tremendous season for the Delhi franchise. They qualified for the playoffs for the first time in seven years and that has been mainly possible due to the superb performances of their young brigade. All of Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Kagiso Rabada among others, have come up with exceptional performances match-after-match. Couple that with the mature performances of seasoned campaigners like Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra among others and you will get to see a balance which has never existed in this Delhi side during the previous years. There have stumbled a couple of times in easy run chases though and that's an area they should address.
The Sunrisers on the other hand have qualified for the playoffs for the second consecutive year. They were the runners-up in the previous edition and would like to make it all the way this season. But things haven't been easy for them especially after David Warner and Jonny Bairstow departed for World Cup
After Mumbai Indians registered a comprehensive victory over Chennai Super Kings to march into the final of IPL 2019 on Tuesday, Wednesday's Eliminator will see the Delhi Capitals taking on the Sunrisers Hyderabad at Visakhapatnam in a do-or-die clash. The losing team will get knocked out of the tournament whereas the winning team will have to prove their mettle once more against Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 2 on Friday to stake their claim on a finale berth.
This has been a tremendous season for the Delhi franchise. They qualified for the playoffs for the first time in seven years and that has been mainly possible due to the superb performances of their young brigade. All of Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Kagiso Rabada among others, have come up with exceptional performances match-after-match. Couple that with the mature performances of seasoned campaigners like Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra among others and you will get to see a balance which has never existed in this Delhi side during the previous years. There have stumbled a couple of times in easy run chases though and that's an area they should address.
The Sunrisers on the other hand have qualified for the playoffs for the second consecutive year. They were the runners-up in the previous edition and would like to make it all the way this season. But things haven't been easy for them especially after David Warner and Jonny Bairstow departed for World Cup preparations. The batting lineup has struggled as a whole. Manish Pandey's form after Warner's departure has been a blessing for them and with Williamson striking form in the last match, things look a little brighter for them. However, there are some problems that they need to sort out in their bowling department. Rashid Khan hasn't been as effective as during the previous years whereas Bhuvneshwar Kumar has looked totally off-color as well. Khaleel Ahmed came midway into the tournament and has produced some splendid wicket-taking spells but he hasn't been helped by bowlers from the other end.
Weather and Pitch conditions: Weather is expected to remain clear with no chance of rain. The pitch at Visakhapatnam looked like a batting beauty on the everyday of the match. However, a high scoring game cannot be promised as the last match recorded a close encounter with the teams struggling to put 130 on the board. Pacers should stick to hard lengths on this pitch while spinners should rely heavily on their variations.
Player Recommendations:
Wicket-Keeper: Rishabh Pant (9.5 Cr)
He has scored 401 runs this season at an average of 36.45 and he has three scores of 50+ to his name as well. He has been quite agile behind the stumps and has been regularly in the mix of catches and stumpings. Statistics speak for himself and hence he is a much better choice than Sunrisers' Wriddhiman Saha.
Batsman: Shikhar Dhawan (10.5 Cr)
Dhawan is Delhi's highest run-getter this season with 486 runs and five fifties to his name. His role at the top of the order has been very crucial for Delhi. Even when he hasn't gone on to play the big knock, he has ensured that his team got off to brisk starts on almost all occasions.
All-Rounder: Mohammad Nabi (9.5 Cr)
The Afghan all-rounder has produced a couple of match winning spells for Hyderabad this season. He has played some handy cameos too and his 31 against the Mumbai Indians during the league stage of the tournament helped them to tie the match when a heavy loss looked likely.
Bowler: Khaleel Ahmed (9 Cr)
The left-arm pacer has been sensation in this tournament thus far. He came into the XI midway into the tournament after replacing the underperformed bowlers. Since then, it has been a dream run for the youngsters as he has claimed 17 wickets in only 8 matches. His strike-rate of 11.29 is the second best in the tournament and his average of 15.47 has also been exceptional.
Predicted Playing XI:
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Colin Ingram, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Wriddhiman Saha(w), Martin Guptill, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson(c), Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan/Abhishek Sharma, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, K Khaleel Ahmed, Basil Thampi
