The penultimate fixture of 2020 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to stage Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Delhi Capitals (DC) contest for a place in the final.
Sheikh Zayed Stadium at Abu Dhabi is scheduled to host the second Qualifier of the Playoffs, which shall decide the second finalist of the tournament, who meet Mumbai Indians (MI) on 10th November.
SRH come into the game as the form team, having won all their must-win fixtures in the league stages as well as the Eliminator.
VVS Laxman and Co. have struck a perfect balance in the team, with the inclusion of Jason Holder, who has picked a whopping 13 wickets in 6 games in the tournament thus far.
Also, the West Indies all-rounder has contributed with the bat, as and when required for the team. SRH has lost only one game in the last six games, with Holder in their side.
The story of DC’s has been contrasting this season. After a wonderful start to the competition, the Shreyas Iyer-led unit has derailed from their campaign, with their string of losses lately.
Contrary to SRH, DC have managed just one win out of the last six games in the tournament. In the first qualifier, MI bulldozed over DC in all departments of the game.
MI reduced DC to 0/3 with Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw, all registering ducks. DC has been found out for the lack of Indian talent for replacing Shaw at the top. The right-hander has three ducks in his last seven outings and has failed to record a double-digit score on six occasions.
With the bowling unit getting plundered for runs, DC need to make some wholesale changes to their side. Ponting has to find a way to include Shimron Hetmyer and Sandeep Lamichhane in the lineup. It would mean, Daniel Sams and Kagiso Rabada facing the axe. It will be the only way to challenge an in-form Sunrisers side.
More importantly, the DC unit has to regroup as quickly as possible ahead of the do-or-die clash against the 2016 IPL winners.
Predicted XI:
DC:
Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shimron Hetmyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sandeep Lamichhane, Anrich Nortje
SRH:
David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
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