Record-breaking Sunrisers seek to spoil Capitals' homecoming
Written by I Dig Sports
Match details
Delhi Capitals (P7 W3 L4 6th) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (P6 W4 L2 4th)
New Delhi, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)
Big picture - Delhi Capitals' homecoming
After setting up base in Visakhapatnam for the first half of the season, Delhi Capitals are back in the national capital for their first game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium this season. Capitals played two games in Vizag this year, winning one and losing the other.
But Capitals' homecoming could easily end up not being a happy one as they go up against a rampaging Sunrisers Hyderabad side that has not once, but twice broken the record for the highest total in the history of the IPL.
How Khaleel Ahmed and Ishant Sharma go in the powerplay against Sunrisers' explosive left-handed opening duo of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma could be the deciding factor in how the match shapes up.
Form guide
DC WWLLW (Most recent match first)
SRH WWWLW
Team news and Impact Player strategy
Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting was optimistic about opener David Warner returning from a finger injury. Ponting said Warner was "85-90%" fit on the day of their last match in Ahmedabad, but a final call on his availability for Saturday will be taken after he trains on the eve of the match against Sunrisers. If Warner returns, he could slot in directly for Sumit Kumar, as Capitals played their last match with just three overseas players. But one of Shai Hope or Jake Fraser-McGurk could also make way, if they don't want to mess with their batting order too much.
Probable XII: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 David Warner, 3 Jake Fraser-McGurk/Shai Hope, 4 Abishek Porel, 5 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Sumit Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Mukesh Kumar, 12 Khaleel Ahmed.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers have a fully fit squad and will likely field the same side they did in their last match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. While Travis Head has been the player subbed out when they have batted first and subbed in while chasing, they will likely start with, or bring in, Mayank Markande depending on the toss. However, if they are batting first and are facing a collapse, Rahul Tripathi is an option as well.
Probable XII: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Aiden Markram, 4 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 5 Abdul Samad, 6 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 T Natarajan, 12 Mayank Markande.
In the spotlight - Kuldeep Yadav and Heinrich Klaasen
Pitch and conditions
It's the first game in Delhi this season, and Ponting said the pitch looked good with more grass cover on the square than last year, and he expects it to play better than it did in 2023, when Capitals lost five of their seven home games.
Stats that matter
- Sunrisers have the two fastest scorers in the powerplay this season in Head and Abhishek, who have struck at 207 and 206 respectively in the first six overs in IPL 2024.
- Pat Cummins has a superb record against left-hand batters this season: five wickets at an average of 14.00, and an economy rate of just 6.56. He could come up against three Capitals' left-handers on Saturday in David Warner, Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel.
- Capitals have won four of their last five matches against Sunrisers. The one defeat came at the Arun Jaitley Stadium last year.
Quotes
"I think our batsmen are going great. We don't mind having a shootout tomorrow. If it's a high-scoring game against Sunrisers, so be it. We know and expect that they're gonna play the way that they played so far in the tournament, which has been, you know, going really hard at the top of the order with the bat and trying to post a big first-innings total. So we're happy to try and match them in that. We think we've got as good a batting line-up if not a better batting line-up than theirs, so we'll see how things work out tomorrow."
Capitals coach Ricky Ponting isn't fazed by Sunrisers' hitting feats this season
Abhimanyu Bose is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo
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