<p>High flying Delhi Capitals (DC) would be aiming to reclaim top spot on the points tally when they take on struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.</p>.<p>Before the tournament got paused Delhi Capital were at the top of the points table with 12 points from 8 matches. Chennai Super Kings claimed the top spot when they beat Mumbai Indians in the first match of the UAE leg of the tournament. Sunrisers Hyderabad struggled in the Indian leg and could manage only one win from their 7 games and are stuck and the bottom of the points table.</p>.<p><strong>SWOT for DC</strong></p>.<p><strong>Strengths</strong>: DC’s batting looked sublime in the first half of the league. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw combined to score six fifties. Rishabh Pant scored 213 runs at an average of 35.50. Pace bowler Avesh Khan proved a surprise package as he picked 14 wickets from 8 matches.</p>.<p><strong>Weaknesses</strong>: Middle order is a cause of a concern for the team. Steve Smith’s form was a cause of concern for DC. The Aussie batter scored only 104 runs from 5 innings with a high score of 34*. Shreyas Iyer will be returning to competitive cricket after an injury lay-off, so it is difficult to expect a flurry of high scores from him immediately. Shimron Hetmyer’s IPL form keeps blowing hot and cold.</p>.<p><strong>Opportunities</strong>: Ravichandran Ashwin has returned to India’s T20 squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Although he has just one wicket so far this season, but he should use the remainder of DC’s matches to pick wickets and make his case strong for the India’s playing XI in the World Cup.</p>.<p><strong>Threats</strong>: The form of the team, the position in the league and a well settled unit suggests that there are no threats looming around for the team.</p>.<p><strong>SWOT for SRH</strong></p>.<p><strong>Strengths</strong>: David Warner and Kane Williamson are two shining lights in SRH’s batting line up. Warner can give his side explosive starts and Williamson is known to anchor the innings. If these two batters can come together, then the left-right batting combination will trouble the bowlers. If Warner and Williamson have a good night against DC, the team’s chances of winning the match will increase manifold.</p>.<p><strong>Weaknesses</strong>: SRH is weakest in its bowling department.The team used as many as13 bowlers in the first half of the tournament. But only one registered double-digit wickets. Rashid Khan is the team’s leading wicket taker with 10 scalps. Khaleel Ahmed is the next highest wicket taker with only four wickets to his name. No other bowler has managed to support Rashid from the other end. Absence of Jonny Bairstow will also hurt the team. Up until the disruption of the league, Bairstow was the team’s top scorer with 248 runs. Bairstow scores runs at a brisk pace, so it will be difficult to replace him.</p>.<p><strong>Opportunities</strong>: With the play-off chances almost over, the team could approach every match without fear and look to create some upsets.</p>.<p><strong>Threats</strong>: The team finds it self at the bottom of the league. A loss in any of its remaining fixtures and any outside chance of the team qualifying for the play-offs will be over.</p>.<p><strong>Head-to-head</strong></p>.<p><strong>Matches played</strong>: 19</p>.<p><strong>Delhi Capitals wins</strong>: 8</p>.<p><strong>Sunrisers Hyderabad wins</strong>: 11</p>.<p><strong>Form Guide</strong></p>.<p><strong>DC</strong>: W-L-W-W-W</p>.<p><strong>SRH</strong>: L-L-L-W-L</p>.<p><strong>What happened in the reverse fixture earlier in the season?</strong></p>.<p>The last time the two teams crossed each other’s path the match ended in a tie. Batting first DC posted 159/4 thanks to Prithvi Shaw’s 53 from 29 balls. Kane Williamson was the star of SRH’s chase as he scored an unbeaten 66 from 51 deliveries. But he got no support from the other end and SRH ended their quota of 20 overs with a score of 159/7. The tie meant that the match was decided in a super over. DC clinched the super over and claimed the two points on offer.</p>.<p><strong>Pitch and conditions</strong></p>.<p>The first two matches of the UAE leg have shown that the pitches are not that batting friendly. It remains to be seen, if the trend continues or will we have a batting paradise for this match.</p>.<p>It will be a warn and a clear evening during the course of the match. The temperature will be around 34° C. The humidity level be around 55%.</p>.<p><strong>Team News</strong></p>.<p>Delhi Capitals’ Chris Woakes has pulled out of this leg of the league. To make up for his absence, DC has brough in Australia’s Ben Dwarshius. SRH’s wicketkeeper batsman Jonny Bairstow will not feature in the remainder of the tournament and he has been replaced by Sherfane Rutherford.</p>.<p><strong>Deccan Herald’s Dream XI</strong></p>.<p>Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Kane Williamson,Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Rashid Khan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.</p>.<p><strong>Impact player for DC</strong></p>.<p><strong>Shikhar Dhawan</strong>: The Delhi Capitals opener is the league’s top-scorer with 380 runs. He scored three half-centuries in the first half of the tournament back in India. Last season in the UAE, Dhawan became the first batter in IPL to score back-to-back hundreds. The left-handed batter would be looking to repeat his form from the 2020 season.</p>.<p><strong>Impact player for SRH</strong></p>.<p><strong>Rashid Khan</strong>: Sunrisers Hyderabad will be relying on leg spinner Rashid Khan to deliver the goods. He is the team’s leading wicket taker with 10 scalps from 7 games at an average of 17.20. If Rashid Khan can bowl at his very best, he would cause a lot of problems for the DC batters.</p>
<p>High flying Delhi Capitals (DC) would be aiming to reclaim top spot on the points tally when they take on struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.</p>.<p>Before the tournament got paused Delhi Capital were at the top of the points table with 12 points from 8 matches. Chennai Super Kings claimed the top spot when they beat Mumbai Indians in the first match of the UAE leg of the tournament. Sunrisers Hyderabad struggled in the Indian leg and could manage only one win from their 7 games and are stuck and the bottom of the points table.</p>.<p><strong>SWOT for DC</strong></p>.<p><strong>Strengths</strong>: DC’s batting looked sublime in the first half of the league. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw combined to score six fifties. Rishabh Pant scored 213 runs at an average of 35.50. Pace bowler Avesh Khan proved a surprise package as he picked 14 wickets from 8 matches.</p>.<p><strong>Weaknesses</strong>: Middle order is a cause of a concern for the team. Steve Smith’s form was a cause of concern for DC. The Aussie batter scored only 104 runs from 5 innings with a high score of 34*. Shreyas Iyer will be returning to competitive cricket after an injury lay-off, so it is difficult to expect a flurry of high scores from him immediately. Shimron Hetmyer’s IPL form keeps blowing hot and cold.</p>.<p><strong>Opportunities</strong>: Ravichandran Ashwin has returned to India’s T20 squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Although he has just one wicket so far this season, but he should use the remainder of DC’s matches to pick wickets and make his case strong for the India’s playing XI in the World Cup.</p>.<p><strong>Threats</strong>: The form of the team, the position in the league and a well settled unit suggests that there are no threats looming around for the team.</p>.<p><strong>SWOT for SRH</strong></p>.<p><strong>Strengths</strong>: David Warner and Kane Williamson are two shining lights in SRH’s batting line up. Warner can give his side explosive starts and Williamson is known to anchor the innings. If these two batters can come together, then the left-right batting combination will trouble the bowlers. If Warner and Williamson have a good night against DC, the team’s chances of winning the match will increase manifold.</p>.<p><strong>Weaknesses</strong>: SRH is weakest in its bowling department.The team used as many as13 bowlers in the first half of the tournament. But only one registered double-digit wickets. Rashid Khan is the team’s leading wicket taker with 10 scalps. Khaleel Ahmed is the next highest wicket taker with only four wickets to his name. No other bowler has managed to support Rashid from the other end. Absence of Jonny Bairstow will also hurt the team. Up until the disruption of the league, Bairstow was the team’s top scorer with 248 runs. Bairstow scores runs at a brisk pace, so it will be difficult to replace him.</p>.<p><strong>Opportunities</strong>: With the play-off chances almost over, the team could approach every match without fear and look to create some upsets.</p>.<p><strong>Threats</strong>: The team finds it self at the bottom of the league. A loss in any of its remaining fixtures and any outside chance of the team qualifying for the play-offs will be over.</p>.<p><strong>Head-to-head</strong></p>.<p><strong>Matches played</strong>: 19</p>.<p><strong>Delhi Capitals wins</strong>: 8</p>.<p><strong>Sunrisers Hyderabad wins</strong>: 11</p>.<p><strong>Form Guide</strong></p>.<p><strong>DC</strong>: W-L-W-W-W</p>.<p><strong>SRH</strong>: L-L-L-W-L</p>.<p><strong>What happened in the reverse fixture earlier in the season?</strong></p>.<p>The last time the two teams crossed each other’s path the match ended in a tie. Batting first DC posted 159/4 thanks to Prithvi Shaw’s 53 from 29 balls. Kane Williamson was the star of SRH’s chase as he scored an unbeaten 66 from 51 deliveries. But he got no support from the other end and SRH ended their quota of 20 overs with a score of 159/7. The tie meant that the match was decided in a super over. DC clinched the super over and claimed the two points on offer.</p>.<p><strong>Pitch and conditions</strong></p>.<p>The first two matches of the UAE leg have shown that the pitches are not that batting friendly. It remains to be seen, if the trend continues or will we have a batting paradise for this match.</p>.<p>It will be a warn and a clear evening during the course of the match. The temperature will be around 34° C. The humidity level be around 55%.</p>.<p><strong>Team News</strong></p>.<p>Delhi Capitals’ Chris Woakes has pulled out of this leg of the league. To make up for his absence, DC has brough in Australia’s Ben Dwarshius. SRH’s wicketkeeper batsman Jonny Bairstow will not feature in the remainder of the tournament and he has been replaced by Sherfane Rutherford.</p>.<p><strong>Deccan Herald’s Dream XI</strong></p>.<p>Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Kane Williamson,Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Rashid Khan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.</p>.<p><strong>Impact player for DC</strong></p>.<p><strong>Shikhar Dhawan</strong>: The Delhi Capitals opener is the league’s top-scorer with 380 runs. He scored three half-centuries in the first half of the tournament back in India. Last season in the UAE, Dhawan became the first batter in IPL to score back-to-back hundreds. The left-handed batter would be looking to repeat his form from the 2020 season.</p>.<p><strong>Impact player for SRH</strong></p>.<p><strong>Rashid Khan</strong>: Sunrisers Hyderabad will be relying on leg spinner Rashid Khan to deliver the goods. He is the team’s leading wicket taker with 10 scalps from 7 games at an average of 17.20. If Rashid Khan can bowl at his very best, he would cause a lot of problems for the DC batters.</p>