A rejuvenated Delhi Daredevils side will face Gujarat Lions at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Thursday. After a five-game winless streak, Delhi finally registered a splendid win against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in their previous encounter. With five games to go for Delhi, they have to win almost all of them to ensure a place in the play-offs given that other results go their way. They are currently sixth on the table with six points and will look to win their second game on their home turf.

Delhi’s bowling has never been their problem. However, the batting was always under constant scrutiny. Against Hyderabad, the batsmen chased down 185 with five balls to spare. Captain Karun Nair (39) and Sanju Samson (24), Rishabh Pant (34), Shreyas Iyer (33), Corey Anderson (41 not out) and Chris Morris (15 not out) will look to capitalise on the positive start after a string of losses.

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Gujarat Lions on the other hand are struggling and are seventh on the table with six points in 10 games. If they lose, they are out of the play-off contention and will join Royal Challengers Bangalore, the only team to be out of the play-off contention. Gujarat finished third last season, but the tenth season has been a disappointment for them. They go into the match with back-to-back defeats against Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant.

Time: 8 pm

Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

TV: Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony ESPN and their HD channels

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Head-to-Head

Played: 2

Delhi Daredevils: 1

Gujarat Lions: 1

Delhi Daredevils

  • If Delhi do not want to open with Sanju Samson, they can try opening with Shreyas Iyer. In 30 T20 innings as an opener, he averages 30.78 and strikes at 132. In 17 innings at all other positions, he averages 16.40. 
  • Daredevils have tried four different combinations as openers this season, which puts them on an even footing with Kings XI Punjab and Gujarat Lions. Only Royal Challengers Bangalore has tried more combinations. Those are the teams that make up the bottom four in the points table.       

Delhi Dardevils squad: Zaheer Khan(C), Angelo Mathews, Corey Anderson, Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins, Ankit Bawne, Aditya Tare, Murugan Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Shashank Singh, Mohammed Shami, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Chris Morris, Carlos Brathwaite, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant, Chama Milind, Khaleel Ahmed, Pratyush Singh, Marlon Samuels.

“We have always spoken about how we are a young team and should play like a young team. We just wanted to go there and play positively, play with intent,” said Karun Nair, Delhi Daredevils captain.

Gujarat Lions

  • Dwayne Smith has had a torrid time in T20s over the last one year. He averages 23, strikes at 122, and has bagged seven ducks, a tally no one has surpassed.      
  • Lions’ Basil Thampi, who has taken eight wickets this season, has bowled more deliveries (78) in the last five overs than anyone else.

Gujarat Lions squad: Suresh Raina (C), Akshadeep Nath, Basil Thampi, Shubham Agarwal, Dwayne Smith, Chirag Suri, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Manpreet Gony, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Dinesh Karthik, Dhaval Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, Brandon McCullum, Pradeep Sangwan, Jason Roy, Jaydev Shah, Shelly Shaurya, Nathusingh, Tejas Baroka and Andrew Tye.

“We could have won it (the Pune game) easily, it was in our hands, it was a very close finish. Mumbai game, it was the first super over, we could have won that as well but it didn’t go our way. Those close games would have made a huge difference in terms of being in the race (for the playoffs) but with the next four games, there is still an outside chance,” said Irfan Pathan, Gujarat Lions allrounder.